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Magic Tree House: The Knight at Dawn KIDS - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Alice In Wonderland Jr. (Disney) Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Book by Jenny Laird Music and Lyrics by Randy Courts Additional Lyrics by Will Osborne Based on Magic Tree House #2: The Knight at Dawn by Mary Pope Osborne Overview / Synopsis Based on the best-selling book series, Jack and Annie journey to the Middle Ages and learn the power of hope. (30-MINUTE VERSION FOR YOUNG PERFORMERS) What would you do if a tree house in your neighborhood could transport you anywhere you wanted to go? Two siblings, Jack and Annie, return to visit the Magic Tree House filled with a magnificent collection of books that can transport the reader to the wonderful faraway settings featured in their pages. As they read a book about knights and the Middle Ages, Annie is intrigued by the Black Knight and the mysterious quest he says one must successfully complete before becoming a knight. When she wishes to visit the castle in the book, the siblings are whisked away to medieval times and set off to learn more about the Black Knight and his quest. Through their adventure, the two discover the power of hope and the true meaning of gallantry. MAGIC TREE HOUSE: THE KNIGHT AT DAWN KIDS is an adaptation of the second of Mary Pope Osborne's award-winning fantasy adventure books from the Magic Tree House book series. The books are number one New York Times bestsellers - more than 100 million copies have been sold in North America alone. The series has been translated into many languages and is available in more than 100 countries around the world. As the curtain rises, a Jester takes the stage and tells the tale of a magic tree house full of books that will transport the reader to wonderful faraway settings ("Prologue, How Far Can You See?"). Jack and Annie discover a book about knights and castles. In it, there is a bookmark with a strange inscription from the Black Knight, encouraging them to be brave and gallant if they wish to be knights ("You Must Pass My Test"). Inquisitive about the Black Knight and his quest, Annie wishes to visit the castle in the book. Before Jack can intercede, the tree house begins to spin and the two are whisked away to the medieval castle ("A Spin Before Dawn"). At the entrance to the castle, three guards - Mustache, Squinty and Red - stand watch while a grand feast is being held inside to win the favor of the Black Knight. The rumor of the Black Knight's presence has attracted a crowd of commoners, all wanting to catch a glimpse of the elusive hero. The guards let only the nobility into the feast and toss the Commoners out ("Mustache, Squinty and Red"). Finally, the Black Knight arrives, and the guards, star struck, scramble to show him in. Just as the drawbridge is about to be pulled up, Annie and Jack slip through the castle gate. Inside the Great Hall, the Jester and other minstrels are entertaining members of the Royal Court. The Duke requests a song about his favorite subject - himself. The Jester and Minstrels oblige, performing a song about the Duke and his brother, Harry ("The Apple Song"), whom the Duke imprisoned in the dungeon after Harry criticized the Duke's crop of apples. Just as the Black Knight is about to enter, Jack and Annie are discovered by Yates, Rikki, Baxter and other kids whose parents work in the castle kitchens. Convinced that Jack and Annie are thieves, the kids run off to tell the Duke. Before they can return, Jack and Annie hide in a dark room. Annie clicks on her flashlight and discovers rows and rows of shining Suits of Armor. With some help from the Suits of Armor, Jack and Annie imagine what it would be like to be a knight ("To Be A Knight"). Accidentally, Annie leans against a Suit of Armor, causing the whole line to topple like dominoes. Mustache, Squinty and Red appear and believe Jack and Annie are thieves or spies and are lying about their connection to the Black Knight. Keenan, the dungeon master, and the Keepers of the Dungeon welcome Jack and Annie to their new home ("Welcome to the Dungeon"). As they are shown around the premises, they are introduced to Harry, the Duke's brother, now a sad old man who won't speak to anyone, and many other Vagrants who the Duke has had imprisoned for questionable reasons. Keenan and the Keepers leave, and Jack and Annie implore Harry to reveal the location of a secret passageway that might lead them to freedom. The other Vagrants say it's no use - Harry has given up hope and will speak to no one. Annie and the others encourage him to look deep within to find a glimmer of hope ("A Light In the Dark"). Encouraged by the youngsters' moving message, Harry offers to draw a map leading to the secret passages of the castle. Jack clicks on the flashlight so Harry can see better, and everyone gasps - "Is it a wand? Like the wizards carry?" Realizing the power she has, Annie summons Keenan and the Keepers of the Dungeon. When they appear, she shines the flashlight on them and threatens to use her magic wand. With the guards stunned, the prisoners make their escape to the orchard, while Jack and Annie run toward another secret exit that leads to the moat and back to the tree house. The steps they are climbing suddenly come to an end and the two must jump into the moat and swim to safety ("The Legend Begins"). The Black Knight appears on the shore, helps Jack and Annie out of the moat, and praises them for passing his test - they helped the innocent without sword or might, but with their brains and their hearts. He dubs them knights, and thanks them for their service ("You Have Passed My Test - Reprise"). Jack and Annie climb back into the tree house and wish themselves back to Pennsylvania ("Spinning Into Dawn"). As the sun starts to come up, the two start to imagine all the places they can go and the adventures they'll have in their magic tree house ("How Far Can You See? - Epilogue"). Audio Sampler - HL00124950 $10.00 ShowKit - 00124940 $545.00 This ShowKit includes: 2 Accompaniment & Guide Vocal CDs Choreography DVD Director's Guide 30 Family Matters Booklets Media Disk Piano/Vocal Score 30 Student Books 30-Minute KIDS Request Individual Components 00124941 - Director's Guide $100.00 00124942 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00124943 - Actor's Script $10.00 00124944 - Actor's Script 10-Pak $75.00 00124945 - Rehearsal/Accompaniment CD $75.00 00124946 - Student Rehearsal CD $10.00 00124947 - Student Rehearsal CD 20-Pak $100.00 00124948 - Choreography DVD $50.00 00124949 - Media Disc $10.00 00124950 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample How Far Can You See? You Must Pass My Test A Spin Before Dawn Mustache, Squinty and Red The Apple Song To Be A Knight (Part 1) To Be A Knight (Part 2) Welcome To The Dungeon (Part 1) Welcome To The Dungeon (Part 2) A Light In The Dark The Legend Begins You Have Passes My Test (Reprise) Spinning Into Dawn How Far Can you See? (Epilogue) Bows Cast Size Medium (11-20), Large (over 20), Flexible Cast Type Children in Cast, Ensemble Cast - Many featured roles, Strong/Large Chorus, Teenage Roles Dance Requirement None/minimal, Standard (Musical Staging/Some Dance/Optional) Annie Annie Jack's younger sister and, in many ways, his opposite in terms of personality. She is a risk-taker who often follows her heart instead of her head. She sometimes teases Jack about his careful attitude toward life and often encourages him to be more adventurous. She loves animals of any kind and has a very loving heart. Range: G3-Bb4 Black Knight Black Knight A mysterious figure who sends Jack and Annie on their quest. In the Duke's kingdom, the Black Knight is something of a legend and a celebrity. Range: Bb3-Ab4 Commoners Commoners The common members of the kingdom who try to talk their way into the castle feast so that they can catch a glimpse of the Black Knight. Duke Duke A pompous bully who enjoys being the center of attention and wielding his power. Elf Elf Keenan's right hand man/woman and another big fan of dungeon life. Range: A3-D5 Harry Harry The Duke's brother and although he has been in the dungeon for forty-seven years, he has retained his quiet dignity and nobility. Range: F3-G4 Jack Jack He is bookish, careful and thoughtful, but he is NOT a nerd! Jack has tremendous curiosity about the world around him and loves to take notes about his observations. Jack tends to be very cautious in new situations, and his adventures in the tree house help him develop his confidence. He has a good (and protective) relationship with his younger sister, Annie, though her more impetuous nature often gets on his nerves. Range: Bb3-Bb4 Keenan Keenan The head honcho for all things concerning the Duke's dungeon. Range: A3-D5 Keepers of the Dungeon Keepers of the Dungeon The servants of Keenan and Elf who enjoy every moment of their lives in the dungeon. Range: A3-D5 Minstrels Minstrels The castle musicians and singers. Range: G3-G4 Mustache Mustache One of the main Castle Sentries/Guards. Mustache is a tough guy type and most of what he says and does is done in an effort to impress his boss, Red. Range: G3-C5 Red Red One of the main Castle Sentries/Guards. Red is the ringleader, a bit of a braggart, and the most ambitious of the three guards. Range: G3-G4 Rikki, Baxter, Yates and other Castle Kids Rikki, Baxter, Yates and other Castle Kids The children of the castle servants. They are spunky and adventurous and highly competitive with one another. Squinty Squinty One of the main Castle Sentries/Guards. Squinty is more childlike than the others, and his guilelessness helps provide much of the comic relief in their scenes. Range: G3-C5 Suits of Armor Suits of Armor The Suits are housed in the armory and brought to life by the song "To Be A Knight." Range: Bb3-Bb4 The Jester The Jester A professional entertainer/performer whose job it is to amuse the Duke and his guests, and he or she is the only person allowed to criticize or make fun of the Duke. Range: A3-C5 Vagrants Vagrants The prisoners of the dungeon being held for the "crime" of being orphaned. Range: F3-A4

HLSPL Testimonials | Hal Leonard Hal Leonard Student Piano Library What makes the Hal Leonard Student Piano Library so popular? We believe that comments from teachers around the country best answer this question for us. Here's what teachers are saying about the Hal Leonard Student Piano Library. "I enjoy the Hal Leonard curriculum immensely and have been especially impressed with the patriotic music that has been published. I have converted all my students to the HL seriesmy students are delighted with the music available in your series. And that is the reason we are teaching - so students can enjoy playing music. Thank you for making teaching a pleasure for me and a joy for the children." - Sandi Denklau, Lisle, IL "I gradually made the switch a couple of years ago to your books as my 'method'My students LOVE the duet accompaniments!!! I am especially impressed with Book 5 with its inclusion of so many standard repertoire pieces along with excellent jazz/pop arrangements and excellent 'today's sounds' pieces, all using good pedagogical principles. Congrats on a great series!" - Susan Engle, Ann Arbor, MI "What I like most about the HLSPL is the variety of music. All of the pieces are beautiful, with or without the CD. I teach a lot of young beginners, and most method books start out on the black notes, as yours does. The big difference is that the pieces in your method are artistic right from the beginning. The children love the illustrations. And I love seeing results." - Karen Ferguson, Coquitlam, BC Canada "Your method is terrific! After 35 years of teaching you have made my job more exciting. My beginning students feel like they are really playing the piano when I accompany them with your innovative harmonies and rhythms. Even your new lyrics to familiar melodies are so clever and updated they make me and the students laugh." - Connie Garbo, Lake Charles, LA "I am enjoying using your materials tremendously! I've been teaching for almost 30 years and have tried many different methods, but I like yours the best! I look forward to every new addition you make to the line and am confident that each one will be of the same high quality that I've come to expect from you. Thank you for developing such a MUSICAL way to teach children to play the piano. The duet parts are simply the best!" - Sylvia Eastwold, Montgomery, AL "I just love the accompaniment CDs that correspond to the different method books. I am purchasing these CDs from Level 1 on up and using them with all of my students who use the Hal Leonard method books. I have noticed a significant improvement in the students working with the CDs. Rhythm, timing, and ear training are all gradually improving as I have my students play along with the CDs. I have used most of the other methods available and prefer the Hal Leonard one because of the easily understandable explanations and repetitive drills on new concepts." - Heidi Meves, Green Bay, WI "I came on your website specifically to write you and let you know that I have been using your piano method books from the time that you introduced them. I love them so much. I wish you could hear some of my students some time. They play so beautifully and learn so much faster and more thoroughly since I started using your method. Finally, I just want to say thank you for combining your lesson books and CDs at such an affordable price. It has to be the absolute best value in the market today." - Kristi McIntyre, Franklin, TN HAL LEONARD STUDENT PIANO LIBRARY What makes the Hal Leonard Student Piano Library so popular? We believe that comments from teachers around the country best answer this question for us. Here's what teachers are saying about the Hal Leonard Student Piano Library. "I enjoy the Hal Leonard curriculum immensely and have been especially impressed with the patriotic music that has been published. I have converted all my students to the HL seriesmy students are delighted with the music available in your series. And that is the reason we are teaching - so students can enjoy playing music. Thank you for making teaching a pleasure for me and a joy for the children." - Sandi Denklau, Lisle, IL "I gradually made the switch a couple of years ago to your books as my 'method'My students LOVE the duet accompaniments!!! I am especially impressed with Book 5 with its inclusion of so many standard repertoire pieces along with excellent jazz/pop arrangements and excellent 'today's sounds' pieces, all using good pedagogical principles. Congrats on a great series!" - Susan Engle, Ann Arbor, MI "What I like most about the HLSPL is the variety of music. All of the pieces are beautiful, with or without the CD. I teach a lot of young beginners, and most method books start out on the black notes, as yours does. The big difference is that the pieces in your method are artistic right from the beginning. The children love the illustrations. And I love seeing results." - Karen Ferguson, Coquitlam, BC Canada "Your method is terrific! After 35 years of teaching you have made my job more exciting. My beginning students feel like they are really playing the piano when I accompany them with your innovative harmonies and rhythms. Even your new lyrics to familiar melodies are so clever and updated they make me and the students laugh." - Connie Garbo, Lake Charles, LA "I am enjoying using your materials tremendously! I've been teaching for almost 30 years and have tried many different methods, but I like yours the best! I look forward to every new addition you make to the line and am confident that each one will be of the same high quality that I've come to expect from you. Thank you for developing such a MUSICAL way to teach children to play the piano. The duet parts are simply the best!" - Sylvia Eastwold, Montgomery, AL "I just love the accompaniment CDs that correspond to the different method books. I am purchasing these CDs from Level 1 on up and using them with all of my students who use the Hal Leonard method books. I have noticed a significant improvement in the students working with the CDs. Rhythm, timing, and ear training are all gradually improving as I have my students play along with the CDs. I have used most of the other methods available and prefer the Hal Leonard one because of the easily understandable explanations and repetitive drills on new concepts." - Heidi Meves, Green Bay, WI "I came on your website specifically to write you and let you know that I have been using your piano method books from the time that you introduced them. I love them so much. I wish you could hear some of my students some time. They play so beautifully and learn so much faster and more thoroughly since I started using your method. Finally, I just want to say thank you for combining your lesson books and CDs at such an affordable price. It has to be the absolute best value in the market today." - Kristi McIntyre, Franklin, TN Hal Leonard Online - HLSPL Testimonials

Dot and The Kangaroo Jr. - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Alice In Wonderland Jr. (Disney) Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Music by Daniel Mertzlufft Lyrics by Kate Leonard Libretto by Daniel Stoddart Overview / Synopsis Based on the 1899 classic children's novel, with libretto by Daniel Stoddart, music by Daniel Mertzlufft (Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, Breathe), and lyrics by Kate Leonard (Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, Breathe), Dot & the Kangaroo JR. will lead audiences on a beautiful journey into the world and spirit of Australia. Young, rambunctious Dot longs for an adventure exploring everything the country has to offer. When she finds herself lost and afraid in the darkening Australian bush, Dot befriends a wise mother Kangaroo who enlists the help of Australia's favourite bush creatures to help Dot find her way back home. A charming tale full of quirky Aussie-native characters, Dot & the Kangaroo JR. transforms the endearing story that transfixed generations past into a fresh, new adventure for generations to come. Audio Sampler - HL01241752 $10.00 ShowKit - HL01241747 $695.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Actor's Book Piano/Vocal Score Director's Guide Choreography Videos (Digital) Guide Vocal Tracks (Digital) Performance Tracks (Digital) Downloadable Resources and Media 60-Minute JR. Request Individual Components 01241747 - ShowKit $695.00 01241748 - Director's Guide $100.00 01241750 - Actor's Book (Single) $10.00 01241751 - Actor's Script (10 Pak) $75.00 01241752 - Audio Sampler $10.00 MUSICAL NUMBERS Prologue Everything, But Nothing Without You See The Country On Our Way Bottoms Up At The Waterhole The Lullaby King Of The Burrow The Ladies' Lounge Council Of The Animals (Part 1) Council Of The Animals (Part 2) Dot's Testimony See The Country (Reprise) Finale Cast of Characters Cast Size: Large (21 or more performers) Cast Type: Children Dot A smart, brave, and kind 8-year-old girl who lives with her family in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales in 1815 Australia. Quick- witted Dot is tired of doing chores and longs for an adventure. Dot is a major role with lots of stage time and carries her own song. Cast a strong singer and actor in this role who reads as younger onstage and makes a good team with Mrs. Kangaroo. Gender: Female Vocal range top: D5 Vocal range bottom: A3 Mrs. Kangaroo Wise, nurturing, and driven. Though she doesn't trust the "new humans," she is willing to help Dot get home as she searches for her missing Joey. Cast a strong singer and actor in this role who will pair well with Dot and can portray Mrs. Kangaroo's compassionate nature and strength of resolve while allowing her sense of humor to shine through. Gender: Female Vocal range top: E5 Vocal range bottom: B3 Matilda Dot's older sister. She loves her family and understands that they work as a team, with everyone contributing to their life in Australia - even if some of the jobs that need to get done aren't as exciting as having an adventure. Cast a good singer and actor in this role who reads as older than Dot onstage. Gender: Female Vocal range top: D5 Vocal range bottom: C4 May Dot's mother. Though she doesn't survive past the first scene, she has a small solo holding Dot as a baby. This is a good role for a performer who may be new to the stage but can handle a solo. Whoever plays May should join the rest of the ensemble after her scene. Gender: Female Vocal range top: D5 Vocal range bottom: D4 Henry Dot and Matilda's father. Though he sadly lost his wife, May, he loves his children and works hard to provide for the family. Cast a good singer and actor in this role who pairs well with Dot and Matilda and can depict Henry's hard-working, good nature. Gender: Male Vocal range top: D5 Vocal range bottom: C4 Willie Wagtail A bird first onstage in puppet form but later leads the courtroom during Dot's trial. He is a know-it-all and considers himself an expert on the court of law because he built a nest in the Gabble-Babble Courthouse and has listened to many trials. Willie doesn't sing a solo, so cast a performer who can express Willie's self-important attitude and command the courtroom. Gender: Male Larry Lorikeet Larry Lorikeet, Mal Magpie Goose, and Wazza Waterheron are the best of waterhole friends and lead the rousing hoedown "Bottoms Up At The Waterhole." These three function as a unit, so cast character actors with excellent comic timing who can move well and easily play off one another. Vocal range top: E5 Vocal range bottom: E3 Lillian, Lilith, and Leilani (The 3 L's) Lorena's friends who sing backup for her during "So Lame." Cast performers who can match Lorena's teenage attitude and are comfortable singing tight harmonies. Gender: Female Vocal range top: E5 Vocal range bottom: F#4 Mal Magpie Goose Larry Lorikeet, Mal Magpie Goose, and Wazza Waterheron are the best of waterhole friends and lead the rousing hoedown "Bottoms Up At The Waterhole." These three function as a unit, so cast character actors with excellent comic timing who can move well and easily play off one another. Vocal range top: E5 Vocal range bottom: E3 Wazza Waterheron Larry Lorikeet, Mal Magpie Goose, and Wazza Waterheron are the best of waterhole friends and lead the rousing hoedown "Bottoms Up At The Waterhole." These three function as a unit, so cast character actors with excellent comic timing who can move well and easily play off one another. Vocal range top: E5 Vocal range bottom: E3 Koala Koala and Kookaburra share a tree and function as a comic pair. They have a hilarious scene with Dot and Mrs. Kangaroo but no sung solos, so cast two character actors with great comic timing who make an interesting twosome and can dial up the silliness onstage. Kookaburra Koala and Kookaburra share a tree and function as a comic pair. They have a hilarious scene with Dot and Mrs. Kangaroo but no sung solos, so cast two character actors with great comic timing who make an interesting twosome and can dial up the silliness onstage. Platypus Though Platypus is a genius and the king of the burrow, he is not very nice to Dot at first. Beneath his gruff exterior is a loyal friend with a strong moral compass who sees Dot for who she truly is. Platypus leads his own number, so cast a fantastic singer and actor in this role who can command the stage and embody Platypus's grumpy dignity. Gender: Male Vocal range top: G5 Vocal range bottom: C4 "King of The Burrow" Soloists Soloist 1 Vocal range top: G4 Vocal range bottom: C5 Soloist 2 Vocal range top: F4 Vocal range bottom: Ab4 Soloist 3 Vocal range top: G#4 Vocal range bottom: C#5 Soloist 4 Vocal range top: F#4 Vocal range bottom: A4 Bowerbirds Belle, Bree, and Babs Bowerbirds Belle, Bree, and Babs are fierce, fashion-forward, and fabulous, darling, thank you very much! These divas have self-confidence in spades and remind Dot that, first and foremost, she must believe in herself. Cast a triple-threat trio that screams "girl power" and can handle close harmonies. Vocal range top: Db5 Vocal range bottom: Db3 Peacock Paul The Bowerbird girls' best friend and matches their confidence level - not to mention their decor! Peacock Paul does not sing a solo but should be comfortable singing in close harmonies with the Bowerbird girls. Cast a fabulous actor and a good dancer in this fun, energetic role. Pelican The prosecutor in Dot's trial. Pelican does not sing a solo, so cast a good actor who can command the room and lean into the courthouse drama of the scene. Joey Mrs. Kangaroo's missing child. Joey has a cameo at the end of the show when he is finally reunited with his "Mimi." This is a great role for a newer performer who is comfortable having a few lines and a brief duet line and reads as younger onstage. Black Swan Vocal range top: G4 Vocal range bottom: Gb3 Cockatoo Vocal range top: G4 Vocal range bottom: Gb3 Ensemble The Ensemble is a great place for any performer who'd like to be involved in the show. Featured ensemble roles are: Brolga, Snake, British Soldiers, Families, Bowerbirds, Brolgas, Dingoes, Rainbow Lorikeets, Waterhole Birds, Council of the Animals (which include Koalas, Possums, Wallabies, Kangaroos, Bilbies, Emus, Cranes, Plovers, Ducks, Frogs, Bandicoots, and Parrots). Brolga Vocal range top: Bb4 Vocal range bottom: Gb3

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2023 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2023 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 2, 2023. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. We began the Hal Leonard Vocal Competition in 2011, and since then thousands of singers have entered, and we thank them for it. So many teachers have been longtime devotees to the competition. Unfortunately, due to a combination of circumstances, 2023 will be the final year of the competition. As founder of the competition and head of the judging panel, I am retiring after 39 years at Hal Leonard. We thank you for your loyalty and for all the amazing singers you've shared with us over the years. Best wishes to all in your future singing! - Richard Walters Complete List of Winners ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Sarah Fleiss School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Ting Ting Wong Voice Teacher: Julia Faulkner Second Place Lily Bogas School: Eastman School of Music Location: Rochester, NY Pianist: Jenny Choo Kirby Voice Teacher: Amy Johnson Third Place Emily Damasco School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Jenny Choo Kirby Voice Teacher: Robert Swensen Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Even Johnson School: Chapman University Watch Video Madeleine Keane School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video Clara Reeves School: Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place Maximus Taylor School: Dupont Manual High School Location: Louisville, KY Pianist: Bruce Boiney Voice Teacher: Garrett Sorenson, Elizabeth Batton Sorenson Second Place (tie) Erin Chung School: Archbishop Mitty High School Location: Saratoga, CA Pianist: Sophia Min Voice Teacher: Cristina Park Second Place (tie) Olivia Gonzales School: Kinder High School for the Performing Arts Location: Houston, TX Voice Teacher: Alicia Gianni Third Place (tie) Alicia Chu School: Juilliard Pre-College Location: Newark, DE Pianist: Matthew Jewel Voice Teacher: Lorrain Nubar Third Place (tie) SangHoon Jung School: Bergen County Academies Location: Fort Lee, NJ Pianist: Hanghyun Lee Voice Teachers: Ronald Cappon, Yohan Yi Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) David “Trey” Logeman Location: Kings Mountain, NC Watch Video Naysa Marrero Location: Miami, FL Watch Video Gabriel Wang Location: Vancouver, BC Watch Video Briggs Williamson Location: Delaplane, VA Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place Katherine Ryan School: Immaculate Heart Academy Location: Pearl River, NY Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Second Place (tie) William Lovell School: ASU Prep Digital Location: Mesa, AZ Pianist: Hope Douglas Voice Teacher: Nichole Jensen Second Place (tie) Alana Merritt School: St. Joseph Academy Location: Escondido, CA Pianist: Yvette Itano Voice Teacher: Jonathan Beyer Third Place (tie) Sofiia Dorozhkina School: Sacramento Academy of Musical Arts Location: Sacramento, CA Voice Teacher: Alina Ilchuk Third Place (tie) Lukas Palys School: St. Mark’s School of Texas Location: Dallas, TX Pianist: Szu-Ying Huang Voice Teacher: Alexander Rom Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Katherine Berdovskiy Location: Davis, CA Watch Video Maeve Cunningham Location: Ridgewood, NJ Watch Video Aurora Dainer Location: Bethesda, MD Watch Video Akshi Malhotra Location: San Jose, CA Watch Video Niko Rinaldi Location: Stamford, CT Watch Video Lily Yezdanian Location: Clifton, NJ Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Donna Megules School: Haines 6th Grade Center Location: Medford, NJ Voice Teacher: Kristine Biller Second Place (tie) Chloe Kesner School: Homeschool Location: Mesa, AZ Voice Teachers: Allison Houston Second Place (tie) Hailey Rivera School: Christ the Teacher Academy Location: Cliffside Park, NJ Pianist: Liliana Sotirova Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Liliana Sotirova Third Place (tie) Kailey Sunwoo School: Demarest Middle School Location: Demarest, NJ Pianist: Haekyoung Lee Voice Teacher: HyeYoung Kang Third Place (tie) Janelle Wu School: Perimeter School Location: Johns Creek, GA Voice Teacher: Xianyu Cui Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Ashley Hua Location: Marietta, GA Watch Video Juliet Lee Location: Vienna, VA Watch Video Brooks Liang Location: Campbell, CA Watch Video Josephine Martin Location: New York, NY Watch Video Lily Bell Morgan Location: Portsmouth, VA Watch Video Emma Tang Location: Duluth, GA Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Anna Zavelson School: University of Michigan Location: Ann Arbor, MI Pianist: Casey Baker Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Gray Second Place (tie) Vera Brown School: Webster University Location: Memphis, TN Pianist: Zach Nuemar Voice Teacher: Jeffrey Carter Second Place (tie) Ashlyn Combs School: Winthrop University Location: New York, NY Third Place (tie) Diego Bly School: Christopher Newport University Location: Providence Forge, VA Pianist: Suzanne Daniels Voice Teacher: Colin Ruffer Third Place (tie) Alex Daspit School: Webster University Location: McFarland, WI Pianist: Jeffrey Carter Voice Teacher: Jeffrey Carter Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Meg Booker School: Northern Kentucky University Watch Video Curran Bramhall School: University of South Carolina Watch Video Grace Caccavari School: Xavier University Watch Video Owen Clark School: Xavier University Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place Lauren Huserik School: Kentridge High School Location: Renton, WA Pianist: Deborah Mackey Voice Teacher: Darcy Fulkerson Second Place (tie) Lindsay Alexander School: Stephen F. Austin High School Location: Austin, TX Pianist: Austin Haller Voice Teacher: Shaunna Shandro Second Place (tie) Alexander Kim School: St. Margaret's Episcopal School Location: Laguna Niguel, CA Pianist: Lex Leigh Voice Teacher: Denise Milner Howell Third Place (tie) Kaiya Bagley School: St. Mary’s School Location: Medford, OR Pianist: Dr. Eunae Ho Voice Teacher: Andrea Hochkeppel Third Place (tie) Zoey Blackman School: Melissa Daniels Vocal Studio Location: Voorhees, NJ Pianist: Melissa Daniels McCann Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Chelsea Bohn-Pozniak Location: Cinnamonson, NJ Watch Video Kathryn Dooley Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Ciela Elliott Location: Chappaqua, NY Watch Video Aurna Mukherjee Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Claire Shirley Location: Greenville, SC Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place Lily Yezdanian School: Lacordaire Location: Clifton, NJ Pianist: Glenn Gordon, Liliana Sotirova Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Nicole Blanco School: Episcopal High School Location: Houston, TX Voice Teacher: Laura Ballard Second Place (tie) Vince Ermita School: David E. Owens Middle School Location: New Milford, NJ Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Third Place (tie) Eve Antonelli School: Bergen County Academies Location: Oradell, NJ Voice Teacher: Lori Fredrics Third Place (tie) Edward Turner School: Bergen County Academies Location: Oradell, NJ Voice Teacher: Terri Grosso Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Marina Chamedes Location: New York, NY Watch Video Diya Koul Location: Lexington, MA Watch Video Katherine Ryan Location: Pearl River, NY Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Vinya Chhabra School: Churchill Junior High School Location: East Brunswick, NJ Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon and Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Evelyn Billingsley School: Cascade Christian School Location: Jacksonville, OR Voice Teacher: Andrea Hochkeppel Second Place (tie) Sienna Stoll School: St. Francis Xavier School Location: Phoenix, AZ Voice Teachers: Renee Koher Third Place (tie) Kylie Kuioka School: Bridgeway Academy (homeschool) Location: Brooklyn, NY Third Place (tie) Cayden Tan School: Horace Mann School Location: New York, NY Pianist: Sun Young Chang Voice Teachers: Sun Young Chang Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Chance Challen Location: Santa Barbara, CA Lincoln Cohen Location: New York, NY Watch Video Kai Edgar Location: Saint Charles, IL Watch Video Everleigh Murphy Location: Rockford, MI Watch Video Shreya Philips Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Dyuti Venkatakrishna Location: Parsippany, NJ Watch Video Back To Top

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2014 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2014 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 1, 2014. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place JACK SWANSON School: University of Oklahoma Pianist: Lorne Richstone Voice Teacher: Linda Esther Gray Second Place (tie) ERIC FERRING School: Drake University Pianist: Michelle Havlik-Jergens Voice Teacher: Leanne Freeman-Miller Second Place (tie) ALEXANDRA NOWAKOWSKI School: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Pianist: Casey Dierlam Voice Teacher: Cynthia Haymon Third Place (tie) STEPHEN MICHAEL HANNA School: Stephen F. Austin State Universityc Pianist: Geneva Fungn Voice Teacher: Scott LaGraff Third Place (tie) NATHANIEL SULLIVAN School: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Pianist: Kurt Knecht Voice Teacher: Alisa Belflower Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) LEE CLAPP Watch Video KAITLYN JOHNSON Watch Video JOSEPH LEPPEK Watch Video ELIZABETH SYWULKA School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place OLIVIA COSIO Location: San Francisco, California Pianist: Ben Malkevitch Voice Teacher:Todd Wedge Second Place SARAH CLEMENTINE MIRE Location: Wolfforth, Texas Pianist: Regina Shea Voice Teacher: Rebecca Wascoe Third Place (tie) CAITLIN HALE DANIELS Location: Dallas, Texas Pianist: Szu-Ying Huang Voice Teacher: Linda DiFiore Third Place (tie) NATHAN KESSEL Location: Worcester, Massachusetts Pianist: Olga Rogach Voice Teacher: Stanley Wilson Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) HAYLEY BOGGS Watch Video NICOLE BURKE Watch Video HANNAH KILPATRICK Watch Video MONICA MUSIC Watch Video MARY GRACE NASIM Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place BENJAMIN WENZELBERG Location: Tenafly, New Jersey Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Second Place (tie) CARLY COONEY Location: Lake Oswego, Oregon Pianist: Daniel Buchanan Voice Teacher: Angela Niederloh Second Place (tie) KARLI FORTE Location: Fremont, Indiana Pianist: Jeri Mow Voice Teacher: Lynn Syler Third Place (tie) NICOLE KELLY Location: West Palm Beach, Florida Voice Teacher: Craig Wich Third Place (tie) CAITLYN McCONNELL Location: Silverdale, Washington Pianist: Cassie Gillis Voice Teacher: Susan Trainer Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) MARY ELIZABETH ADLER Watch Video MADISON BEASLEY Watch Video NATALIE DULLERUD Watch Video MADISON FITZPATRICK Watch Video SALONI RAO Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place MADELIN MORALES Location: Fairfield, New Jersey Pianist: Michael Fennelly Voice Teacher: Jeanai LaVita Second Place (tie) EMMA BROOKE ALLEY Location: Lyman, South Carolina Pianist: Valerie MacPhail Voice Teacher: Valerie MacPhail Second Place (tie) SHERIDAN ARCHBOLD Location: Yorkville, Illinois Voice Teacher: Rachel Olson Third Place (tie) LEXI LANNI Location: Bristol, Rhode Island Pianist: Madeline Grace Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Grace Third Place (tie) LAUREN MAGEE Location: Fort Worth, Texas Voice Teacher: Pamela Riley Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) ALIYAH DOUGLAS Watch Video AGNE GIEDRAITYTE Watch Video OLYMPIA HATZILAMBROU Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place MICHAEL HEWITT School: University of Denver Lamont School of Music Pianist: Joshua Sawicki Voice Teacher: Kenneth Cox Second Place (tie) BRITTANY HOWK School: Arizona State University Pianist: Curtis Moeller Voice Teacher: Carole FitzPatrick Second Place (tie) YAZID PIERCE-GRAY School: DePauw University Pianist: Amanda Hopson Voice Teacher: Caroline B. Smith Third Place (tie) JOEL BAUMAN School: Messiah College Pianist: Daniel Dorty Voice Teacher: Elaine Henderson Third Place (tie) ANGELA GILBERT School: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Pianist: Kurt Knecht Voice Teacher: Alisa Belflower Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) LEE CLAPP Watch Video CAITLIN SECREST Watch Video CECILIA SNOW Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place BENJAMIN WALKER Location: Wilmington, Delaware Pianist: Lisa Papili Voice Teacher: Marian Johnson-Healy Second Place (tie) JILLIAN CAILLOUETTE Location: Meriden, Connecticut Pianist: Sean Pallatroni Voice Teacher: Stacy Perrone Petta Second Place (tie) EMILY CIPRIANI Location: Westerville, Ohio Pianist: Stephanie Henkle Voice Teacher: Stephanie Henkle Third Place (tie) JULIA QUANDT Location: Seattle, Washington Pianist: Serena Chin Voice Teacher: Madeline Bersamina Third Place (tie) LILY LORD Location: Falls Church, Virginia Pianist: Ed Roberts Voice Teacher: Muriel VonVillas Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) MICHELLE ANNE BAILEY Watch Video CASSIDY GALLOWAY Watch Video DEVON HAYAKAWA Watch Video HANNAH KILPATRICK Location: Wading River, New York Watch Video LINDSAY ROLLAND-MILLS Location: Scottsdale, Arizona Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place ALISON POGORELC Location: Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin Pianist: Diane Kachelmeier Voice Teacher: Helen Ceci Second Place EMMA LEE Location: Bolingbrook, Illinois Voice Teacher: Greg Lee Third Place (tie) EMMA JOANIS Location: Windham, New Hampshire Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Group Third Place (tie) SARAH LAWLER Location: Barrington, New Jersey Pianist: Melissa Daniels Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) MELINDA ORENGO Watch Video JESSICA VANEK Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place OLIVIA LOMBARDI Location: Rye Brook, New York Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Second Place (tie) MADELIN MORALES Location: Fairfield, New Jersey Pianist: Michael Fennelly Voice Teacher: Jeanai LaVita Second Place (tie) ADRIANA SERRA Location: Mississauga, Ontario Voice Teacher: Kinga Mitrowska & Jeanai LaVita Third Place (tie) CORMAC CULLINANE Location: Fresh Meadows, New York Pianist: Gulnara Mitzanova Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Third Place (tie) AKIRA GOLZ Location: Hopewell Junction, New York Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) CODY KONOP Watch Video ELIZABETH O'BRYANT Watch Video ALEXA REEVES Watch Video McKENNA SHAW Watch Video NICOLE WILDY Watch Video JOYCE ZHENG Watch Video Back To Top

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2015 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2015 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 1, 2015. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place SAMANTHA HANKEY School: The Juilliard School Pianist: Edward Kim Voice Teacher: Edith Wiens Second Place PIOTR BUSZEWSKI School: The Juilliard School Pianist: Hojae Lee Voice Teacher: Robert White Third Place MICHELLE BOGGESS School: DePaul University Pianist: Gregory Schifrin Voice Teacher: Jane Bunnell Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) KRESLEY FIGUEROA Watch Video ANNE MARIE STANLEY Watch Video ELIZABETH SYWULKA School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place NICOLE KOH School: Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts Pianist: Ben Malkevitch Voice Teacher: Todd Wedge Second Place CAITLIN HALE DANIELS School: Richland Collegiate High School Pianist: Gloria Kim Voice Teacher: Carol Wilson Third Place (tie) SYDNEY DARDIS School: Orange County School of the Arts (Santa Ana, California) Pianist: John Henri Voice Teacher: Kathleen Martin Third Place (tie) BRENNA MCFARLAND School: Trinity Christian School (Fairfax, Virginia) Pianist: Chris Koeltzer Voice Teacher: Michael Mentzel Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) TREENA CHAUDHURI Watch Video ALEXANDER GRANITO Watch Video SARAH ROSE PARKER Watch Video KATHRYN RISCHEE Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place CARLY COONEY School: Lake Oswego High School Pianist: Daniel Buchanan Voice Teacher: Angela Niederloh Second Place MARY ELIZABETH ADLER School: Newport High School Pianist: Beth Kirchhoff Voice Teacher: Nancy Zylstra Third Place (tie) SARAH AALDERING School: Los Gatos High School Pianist: Chen Woo Voice Teacher: Kathleen Ludowise Third Place (tie) MAEVE STIER School: Homeschooled Pianist: Susan McDaniel Voice Teacher: Angela Niederloh Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) STEPHANIE CHEE Watch Video CLAIRE KWON Watch Video NIKO MANCERAE Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place EMMA-BROOKE ALLEY Location: Lyman, South Carolina Pianist: Valerie MacPhail Voice Teacher: Valerie MacPhail Second Place ALIYAH DOUGLAS School: Wilson K-8 School (Oro Valley, Arizona) Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Third Place (tie) CAITLIN CHISHAM School: Blair Oaks Middle School Pianist: Gretchen Huedepohl Voice Teacher: Michael Straw Third Place (tie) LENA MOLYNEUX School: The Center School Pianist: Gulia Mitzanova Voice Teacher: Amelia Demayo Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) SANGHOON JUNGE Watch Video ELORA KARES Watch Video LEXI LANNI Watch Video ARIELLE PEDERSEN Location: Spartanburg, SC Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place JAMEELAH LEAUNDRA School: Otterbein University Pianist: Tiantian Liang Voice Teacher: Keyona Willis Second Place KATHERINE RIDDLE School: American University Pianist: Andrew Welch Voice Teacher: Linda Allison Third Place (tie) LEE CLAPP School: McGill University Pianist: Parker Scheil Voice Teacher: Sanford Sylvan Third Place (tie) RACHEL HORNER School: Rutgers University Pianist: Colin Britt Voice Teacher: Alisa Belflower Honorable Mention SARAH ADAMS Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place LILY LORD School: Mclean High School (McLean, Virginia) Pianist: Ed Roberts Voice Teacher: Muriel Von Villas Second Place (tie) MACEY ARRINGTON School: Sharkey-Issaquena Academy (Rolling Fork, Mississippi) Pianist: Carol Joy Sparkman Voice Teacher: Chad Payton Second Place (tie) LINA SILVER School: LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts Pianist: Seth Weinstein Voice Teacher: Amelia De Mayo Third Place (tie) CATE HAYMAN School: Tam High School Pianist: Dwight Okamura Voice Teacher: Suzanne Darley Third Place (tie) ETHAN JAMES LYNCH School: Morris County School of Technology (Delville, New Jersey) Pianist: Ken Magos Voice Teacher: Stan Dunn Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) MELISSA CAMPBELL Watch Video SYDNEY HOWARD Watch Video KYLEE SHAFFER Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place AMALIA CREVANI School: Delaware Valley Regional High School (Frenchtown, New Jersey) Voice Teacher: Alejandra Garrido Second Place (tie) ALEXA NEILEN School: Homeschooled Pianist: David Ludwig Voice Teacher: Priscilla Bagley Second Place (tie) AUTUMN PLUCKER School: Coeur d'Arlene High School Voice Teacher: Andrea Olsen Third Place (tie) ARIA CRITCHLEY School: East High School Voice Teacher: Rebecca Glade Third Place (tie) MAEVE STIER School: Homeschooled Pianist: Susan McDaniel Voice Teacher: Jay Frayley Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) ANNE ABRAMCZYK Watch Video CAMERON VANCE Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place ELLA RUTMAN School: Lamar Middle School Fine Arts Academy Voice Teacher: Michelle Hache and Sylvia Casper Second Place (tie) SPENCER JONES School: Robinson Elementary School Voice Teacher: Lisa Casciola Second Place (tie) ALEXA REEVES School: Beck Middle School Pianist: Melissa Daniels McCann Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Third Place (tie) ALIYAH DOUGLAS School: Wilson K-8 School (Oro Valley, Arizona) Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Third Place (tie) AYANNA NAVARRO School: Arlene Hein Elementary School Voice Teacher: Leslie Sandefur Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) AKIRA GOLZ Watch Video MERRIT GROVE Watch Video ELLA RESCIGNO Watch Video CHARLOTTE VARGA Watch Video Back To Top

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2012 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2012 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 1, 2012. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place ERIC JURENAS School: College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati Voice Teacher: William McGraw Second Place ERIN ALCORN School: Oberlin Conservatory of Music Voice Teacher: Daune Mahy Third Place (tie) NICHOLAS BROWNLEE School: University of South Alabama Voice Teacher: Dr. Thomas Rowell Third Place (tie) CHRISTIAN KETTER School: DePaul University Voice Teacher: Carl Lawrenz Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) AUSTIN BRADLEY Watch Video MARCEL D'ENTREMONT Watch Video ADAM FIELDSON Watch Video KATY HARTH Watch Video HANNAH KURTH Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place CLAUDIA OH Location: New York, New York Voice Teacher: Lorraine Nubar Second Place (tie) GRACE CANFIELD Location: Naperville, Illinois Voice Teacher: Nancy Gustafson Second Place (tie) KELSEY LAURITANO Location: San Francisco, California Voice Teacher: Lois Jane Roberts Third Place (tie) CLARE DEMER Location: Tucson, Arizona Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Third Place (tie) KRISTOFER HANSEN Location: Glenview, Illinois Voice Teacher: Mary Jean Allen Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) SHAFALI JALOTA Watch Video KATARINA WILSON Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place HAYLEY BOGGS Location: Oakland, Michigan Voice Teacher: Cathy Zucker Second Place (tie) LISA LOUW Location: Greer, South Carolina Voice Teacher: Tina Thompson-Broussard Third Place (tie) ANNIE DRYSDALE Location: Oakville, Ontario Voice Teacher: Linda Fletcher Third Place (tie) LAURA GUIDUCCI Location: Oakville, Ontario Voice Teacher: Linda Fletcher Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) MISTY BIRTCHER Watch Video NATHAN ESTIPONA Watch Video CIARA MARIE WALLACE Watch Video ALASDAIR PAYTEN Location: San Francisco, CA Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place NICOLE KELLY Location: Lake Worth, Florida Voice Teacher: Craig Wich Second Place (tie) CARLY COONEY Location: Lake Oswego, Oregon Voice Teacher: Dan Buchanon Second Place (tie) KARLI FORTE Location: Fremont, Indiana Voice Teacher: Lynn Syler Third Place (tie) JAMIE BRADLEY Location: Lexington, Kentucky Voice Teacher: Mary Joy Nelson Third Place (tie) SAGE HAMMOND Location: Tucson, Arizona Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) ALLISON BAUMGARTNERE Watch Video MIRA MEIKLE Watch Video JULIA PULO Watch Video ANDREW SHROLL Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place ADAM FIELDSON School: University of Nebraska in Lincoln Voice Teacher: Alisa Belflower Second Place KATY HARTH School: Lawrence University Voice Teacher: Karen Leigh-Post Third Place MICHAEL HEWITT School: Otterbein University Voice Teacher: Helen Allen Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) ARICA COLEMAN Watch Video MARCEL D'ENTREMONT Watch Video SAM HARTLEY Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place KRISTOFER HANSEN Location: Glenview, Illinois Voice Teacher: Mary Jean Allen Second Place (tie) RACHEL HORNER Location: Voorhees, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Second Place (tie) MARINA KONDO Location: Rochester Hills, Michigan Voice Teacher: Jeff Norris Third Place (tie) LAUREN MATLACK Location: Voorhees, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Third Place (tie) MICHAEL WILLIAMS Location: McKinney, Texas Voice Teacher: David Gaschen Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) LINDSAY ROLLAND-MILLS Watch Video CHRISTOPHER NORWOOD Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place BEN WALKER Location: Wilmington, Delaware Voice Teacher: Marian Johnson-Healy Second Place (tie) LISA LOUW Location: Greer, South Carolina Voice Teacher: Tina Thompson-Broussard Second Place (tie) STEVIE KEESE Location: Greer, South Carolina Voice Teacher: Tina Thompson-Broussard Third Place (tie) HAYLEY BOGGS Location: Oakland, Michigan Voice Teacher: Cathy Zucker Third Place (tie) COURTNEY STRAUB Location: Laurel Springs, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) GABI LEIBOWITZ Watch Video ANYA OLSEN Watch Video JACKLYN SUMMERS Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place GRACE ROBERTSON Location: St. Louis, Missouri Voice Teacher: Lisa Casciola Second Place (tie) CARLY COONEY Location: Lake Oswego, Oregon Voice Teacher: Dan Buchanon Second Place (tie) JOHN HEALY Location: Arvada, Colorado Voice Teacher: Becky Bradley Third Place (tie) AGNE GIEDRAITYTE Location: Downers Grove, Illinois Voice Teacher: Nida Grigalaviciute Third Place (tie) MARIA KNASEL Location: St. Louis, Missouri Voice Teacher: Lisa Casciola Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) ALIYAH DOUGLAS Watch Video AVERY KADISH Watch Video GIANNA LEONEN Watch Video PAIGE NORTHRUP Watch Video Back To Top

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2018 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2018 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 1, 2018. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place EMILY POGORELC School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Pedro Yanez Voice Teacher: Julia Faulkner Second Place (tie) RYAN HURLEY School: The Juilliard School Location: New York, NY Pianist: Ruobing Zhang Voice Teacher: Edith Wiens Second Place (tie) LINDSEY REYNOLDS School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Reese Revak Voice Teacher: Marlena Malas Third Place (tie) AARON CROUCH School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Michael Davidman Voice Teacher: Marlena Malas Third Place (tie) SHEREEN PIMENTEL School: The Juilliard School Location: New York, NY Pianist: Gulnara Mitznova Voice Teacher: Edith Wiens Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) MICHELLE GEFFNER School: The Juilliard School Watch Video SHELÉN HUGHES School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video YVETTE KEONG School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video EVAN LAZDOWSKI School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place LIBBY SOKOLOWSKI School: Homeschooled Location: Hurley, NY Voice Teacher: Drew Minter Second Place (tie) JOSHUA BERG School: Bernards High School Location: Gladstone, NJ Voice Teacher: Lorraine Nubar Second Place (tie) CALLIE ILIFF School: Wimberley High School Location: San Marcos, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Third Place (tie) COLIN AIKINS School: Central Catholic High School Location: Lower Burrell, PA Voice Teacher: Maria Spacagna Third Place (tie) DALIA MEDOVNIKOV School: Amity Regional High School Location: Woodbridge, CT Voice Teacher: Emily Olin Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) ADAM CLAYTON Location: Lake Forest, IL Watch Video EMMA COLE Location: Buda, TX Watch Video SAM DHOBHANY Location: Brooklyn, NY Watch Video ARLO ECHAVARRIA-DUQUE Location: Interlochen, MI Watch Video PABLO RUBIN-JURADO Location: New York, NY Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place CAITLIN CHISHAM Location: Holts Summit, MO Voice Teacher: Michael Straw Second Place (tie) ISABELLA LOPEZ School: Ruth Asawa School of the Arts Location: San Francisco, CA Voice Teacher: Rhoslyn Jones Second Place (tie) AIDA SKARAITE School: Glenbard West High School Location: Glen Ellyn, IL Voice Teacher: Rachel Olson Third Place (tie) ALIYAH DOUGLAS School: Wilson K-8 School Location: Lower Oro Valley, AZ Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Third Place (tie) AVA KUNTZ School: Orange County School of the Arts Location: Santa Ana, CA Voice Teacher: Kathleen Martin Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) TOSHAAN ARORA Location: Austin, TX Watch Video LENA MOLYNEUX Location: New York, NY Watch Video LUCA MORGANTE Location: Toronto, ON Watch Video ALASDAIR PAYTEN Location: San Francisco, CA Watch Video ANNA ZAVELSON Location: Austin, Texas Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place SHAYLA HE School: The Harker School Location: Saratoga, CA Voice Teacher: Alison Collins Second Place (tie) MEGHAN LINNINGTON School: Jenks West Intermediate Location: Jenks, OK Voice Teacher: Darryl Linnington Second Place (tie) ROHAN PUROHIT School: East Lyme Middle School Location: East Lyme, CT Voice Teacher: Natalia Syed Third Place (tie) EVA CRICHTON School: Horace Mann School Location: New York, NY Voice Teacher: Gulnara Mitzanova and Amelia DeMayo Third Place (tie) SANGHOON JUNG School: Tenakill Middle School Location: Closter, NJ Voice Teacher: HyeYoung Kang Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) THEO BURKE Location: Rancho Cucamonga, CA Watch Video KORYNN GAGNE Location: Ashburnham, MS Watch Video SOPHIA HOLMGREN Location: Williamstown, MS Watch Video WILL MANELLO Location: Spartanburg, SC Watch Video ANDREA NALYWAJKO Location: New York, NY Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place LUIS IBARRA School: Florida International University Location: Miami, FL Pianist: Jared Peroune Voice Teacher: Pamela Sherwood Second Place BRITTANY DINARDO School: Rutgers University Location: New Brunswick, NJ Pianist: Kyle Henry Voice Teacher: Rosa Vento Third Place (tie) RYAN HURLEY School: The Juilliard School Location: New York, NY Pianist: Ruobing Zhang Voice Teacher: Edith Wiens Third Place (tie) SHEREEN PIMENTEL School: The Juilliard School Location: New York, NY Pianist: Gulnara Mitznova Voice Teacher: Edith Wiens Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) ABBY KURTH School: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Watch Video MICHELLE LANGONE School: Vanderbilt University Watch Video KATIE MURPHY School: Christopher Newport University Watch Video ALEXANDRA PURDY School: New England Conservatory of Music Watch Video ABBY ROZMAJZL School: Christopher Newport University Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place KATHRYN SCHNEIDER School: Muskego High School Location: Muskego, WI Voice Teacher: Antonina Johnston Second Place (tie) SUMMER BECKMAN School: Desert Mountain High School Location: Fountain Hills, AZ Voice Teacher: Paige Beckman Second Place (tie) MAYA PRICE School: Passaic County Technical Institute Location: Clifton, NJ Voice Teacher: Edwin Jacob Third Place (tie) CHLOE HAYES School: Northview High School Location: Brazil, IN Voice Teacher: Dr. Colleen Davis Third Place (tie) JULIA MESSENGER School: Episcopal High School (Alexandria, VA) Location: Raleigh, NC Voice Teacher: Cara Transtrom Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) JESSICA FURNSTAHL Location: Lake Tapps, Washington Watch Video ELIZAH KNIGHT Location: Oro Valley, Arizona Watch Video DALIA MEDOVNIKOV Location: Woodbridge, Connecticut Watch Video ALEXANDRA MELI Location: Wading River, New York Watch Video GRACE NAPOLETANO Location: Scottsdale, Arizona Watch Video ALEA VERNON Location: Cheshire, Connecticut Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place KINSEY NEAS School: Westlake High School Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Second Place ALIYAH DOUGLAS School: Wilson K-8 School Location: Oro Valley, AZ Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Third Place (tie) TOSHAAN ARORA School: McCallum Fine Arts Academy Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Third Place (tie) ALYSON KESSINGER School: Aledo High School Location: Aledo, TX Voice Teacher: Marlene Bigley Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) JULIA BLACKMON Location: Austin, TX Watch Video ALEXA REEVES Location: Cherry Hill, NJ Watch Video ELLA RUTMAN Location: Austin, TX Watch Video ELIZABETH VICHNESS Location: Annandale, VA Watch Video MARISSA YOUNG Location: Los Altos, CA Watch Video ANNA ZAVELSON Location: Austin, TX Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place COOPER RAMSEY School: Ethical Culture Fieldston School Location: New York, NY Voice Teacher: Gulnara Mitzanova and Amelia DeMayo Second Place (tie) ZOEY BLACKMAN School: Melissa Daniels Vocal Studio Location: Voorhees, NJ Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels Second Place (tie) ALEAH GARCIA School: Highland Junior High School Location: Gilbert, AZ Voice Teacher: Allison Houston Third Place (tie) CIELA ELLIOTT School: Seven Bridges Middle School Location: Chappaqua, NY Voice Teacher: Gulnara Mitzanova and Amelia DeMayo Third Place (tie) SHAYLA HE School: The Harker School Location: Saratoga, CA Voice Teacher: Alison Collins Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) JACOB THOMAS ANDERSON Location: Fairfax Station, Virginia Watch Video SARAYA ANGBAZO Location: Tenafly, New Jersey Watch Video WINTER DONNELLY Location: New York, New York Watch Video CAMDEN PRIESTER Location: North Tonawanda, New York Watch Video GREGORY TRECHEL Location: Schenectady, New York Watch Video ALEX VACCHIANO Location: West Caldwell, New Jersey Watch Video Back To Top

Dear Edwina Jr. - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Alice In Wonderland Jr. (Disney) Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Book by Marcy Heisler Lyrics by Marcy Heisler Music by Zina Goldrich Overview / Synopsis Dear Edwina JR. is a heartwarming musical about the joys of growing up, from the creators of Junie B. Jones, The Musical. Written in a "show-within-a-show" format, Dear Edwina JR. is the perfect "girl power" musical for a new generation. Dear Edwina JR. follows the adventures of plucky advice-giver-extraordinaire, Edwina Spoonapple, as she directs the neighborhood kids in a series of buoyant production numbers for the latest edition of her weekly "Advice-a-Palooza." Edwina and her friends share wisdom on everything from trying new foods to making new friends through clever, catchy and poignant songs. Featuring a host of supporting roles that can be distributed widely or doubled (or even tripled), depending on your cast size, Dear Edwina JR. provides a perfect opportunity to showcase your young performers. Audio Sampler - HL00218201 $10.00 ShowKit - HL00218175 $695.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Actor's Scripts Director's Guide Piano/Vocal Score 2 Rehearsal/Accompaniment CDs Choreography DVD Media Disc 30 Family Matters Booklets 60-Minute JR. Request Individual Components 00218192 - Director's Guide $100.00 00218193 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00218194 - Actor's Script $10.00 00218195 - Actor's Script 10-pak $75.00 00218196 - Rehearsal/Accompaniment CDs $75.00 00218197 - Student Rehearsal CD $10.00 00218198 - Student Rehearsal CD 20-pak $100.00 00218199 - Choreography DVD $50.00 00218200 - Media Disc $10.00 00218201 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample MUSICAL NUMBERS Paw-Paw Michigan Up On the Fridge Dear Edwina Here Comes a Letter Aphrodite Say No Thank You Becky's Cheers Another Letter Abigail Frankenguest Carrie Fork, Knife, Spoon Time for Intermission Here Come More Letters Periwinkle Hola, Lola Becky's Second Cheers Ziggy Put it in the Piggy Thanks for Coming 1 Edwina Thank for Coming 2 Up on the Fridge Breakdown Sing Your Own Song Hola, Lola (Encore) Edwina Spoonapple The creator, director and choreographer of The Dear Edwina Show and is the main-staple of the play. Her character goes through a tremendous arc throughout the series of events in the play; from frustration to relief, anger to joy, horror to happiness & all within one afternoon in her own garage! The role of Edwina demands your most talented actor to pull off her bossy yet lovable character. Also, since the play is designed around her and she has the most stage time, the actor playing Edwina should feel more than comfortable onstage. Edwina's music is also a bit challenging. Your actor should have a strong, clear voice with good diction. A musical background would be helpful. Gender: Female Vocal range: A3-C5 Becky Edwina's enthusiastic friend and the top of the cheerleading pyramid for the Paw Paw Wildcats. Cheerleading consumes her life and creating new cheers for everyday occasions brings her great joy. This girl even cheers her anger! Becky is a vocally non-demanding role with only a few vocal lines. Stage presence is more important when it comes to casting Becky. Cast the loudest, most outgoing un-shy person you can. Athletic ability, if not cheerleading experience, would be helpful, but not necessary. Gender: Female Scott A neighbor boy who is helplessly in love with Edwina. He dotes on her every move and is always conniving a way to gain her attention. Choose a strong actor who feels comfortable being bold with his emotions. A good singer is a must for this role. Scott's song requires vocal dexterity and is demanding in style. An actor with strong comedic timing will be an asset to your production during Scott's 'transformation.' Gender: Male Vocal range: C4-Ab5 Kelli Edwina's neighbor and Paw Paw, Michigan's resident ballerina. The character of Kelli can go one of two ways, depending on your talent pool. If you have a cast member with a background in ballet, great! Let her go wild, perhaps even choreograph her own piece, and turn "Poshkonozovich Dance" into a showcase. If the actor playing Kelli has no ballet experience, not a problem. We've all flapped our arms and stood on our tippy-toes pretending to be ballerinas, have her do the same and turn it into a comedy bit! No one said Kelli was a good ballerina. Gender: Female Bobby Edwina's new next-door neighbor. He is a friendly and compassionate character who goes out of his way to help others. The character of Bobby will be able to get away with imperfections throughout the show, as he is a last minute replacement for Lars. Cast an actor who is outgoing and gets along with everyone. Gender: Male Lars Vanderploonk One of the Vanderploonk triplets and a neighborhood friend of Edwina. He is incredibly accident-prone and twists his ankle in the first scene. Lars has many prat falls before he actually twists his ankle. Casting an actor with good physical comedy skills would be helpful (always remember that any staged fall or injury should be carefully choreographed and rehearsed to prevent a real injury. Safety first!). You may want to consider having Lars return to the stage a little while after his injury in a wheelchair, a cast or leg brace, or on crutches. This adds to the comedy of the play and opens up the casting of Lars for the actor who wants to be in your show so badly but isn't exactly Baryshnikov. Gender: Male Billy Vanderploonk One of the Vanderploonk triplets and a neighborhood friend of Edwina. He works double duty on The Dear Edwina Show by performing onstage and serving as Box Office Manager. Gender: Male Cordell Vanderploonk One of the Vanderploonk triplets and a neighborhood friend of Edwina. He works double duty in The Dear Edwina Show by performing onstage and serving as House Manager. Gender: Male Annie Edwina's friend and the Girl Scout of Paw Paw. Annie works for and collects her Girl Scout badges like they were buried treasure. No matter what problem may arise, she is prepared with the know-how and resources to solve it in a flash - A MacGyver for the new generation! She is perky, energetic and helpful & maybe even too helpful. Gender: Female Aphrodite One of the 'letter readers' in The Dear Edwina Show. They each have vocal solos (aside from the Marching Band, who only sing backup vocals) whereby they explain their dilemmas in hopes of receiving Edwina's advice. Consider casting these roles from your ensemble or you can have any of the other characters above perform one of the roles. Gender: Both Vocal range: A3-Eb5 Carrie One of the 'letter readers' in The Dear Edwina Show. They each have vocal solos (aside from the Marching Band, who only sing backup vocals) whereby they explain their dilemmas in hopes of receiving Edwina's advice. Consider casting these roles from your ensemble or you can have any of the other characters above perform one of the roles. Gender: Female Vocal range: B3-D5 Abigail One of the 'letter readers' in The Dear Edwina Show. They each have vocal solos (aside from the Marching Band, who only sing backup vocals) whereby they explain their dilemmas in hopes of receiving Edwina's advice. Consider casting these roles from your ensemble or you can have any of the other characters above perform one of the roles. Gender: Female Vocal range: B3-D5 Periwinkle One of the 'letter readers' in The Dear Edwina Show. They each have vocal solos (aside from the Marching Band, who only sing backup vocals) whereby they explain their dilemmas in hopes of receiving Edwina's advice. Consider casting these roles from your ensemble or you can have any of the other characters above perform one of the roles. Gender: Both Vocal range: Bb3-C5 Ziggy & The Marching Band One of the 'letter readers' in The Dear Edwina Show. They each have vocal solos (aside from the Marching Band, who only sing backup vocals) whereby they explain their dilemmas in hopes of receiving Edwina's advice. Consider casting these roles from your ensemble or you can have any of the other characters above perform one of the roles. Gender: Both Vocal range: Ab3-Ab4 Vladimir Edwina's scary uncle from afar. The actor should be a strong enough singer to feel comfortable with their own song and a strong enough actor to engage the audience with their story (and keep them engaged through the duration of the song). Impeccable diction is a must for this character as Vladimir's lines are written with a Transylvanian "Dracula" accent in mind. The actor may be pulled from the company or, depending on your cast size, carry just this one role. Gender: Male Vocal range: A3-F5 Frank A rude, self-centered, bratty, offensive, disrespectful, socially inept child and the subject of Vladimir's song, Frankenguest. This non-singing role requires the actor to speak their lines during musical breaks in the song. Cast an "over the top" actor and you'll be just fine. Gender: Male Chef Ludmilla Part of a team to instruct the rest of the company on how to set a table in "Fork, Knife, Spoon." Each actor should have strong music and vocal skills. Actors may be selected from the company or, depending or your cast size, carry just their one role. Gender: Both Vocal range: A3-F5 William Part of a team to instruct the rest of the company on how to set a table in "Fork, Knife, Spoon." Each actor should have strong music and vocal skills. Actors may be selected from the company or, depending or your cast size, carry just their one role. Gender: Male Vocal range: Eb4-F5 Sonoma Part of a team to instruct the rest of the company on how to set a table in "Fork, Knife, Spoon." Each actor should have strong music and vocal skills. Actors may be selected from the company or, depending or your cast size, carry just their one role. Gender: Both Vocal range: Eb4-F5 Fairy Forkmother Part of a team to instruct the rest of the company on how to set a table in "Fork, Knife, Spoon." Each actor should have strong music and vocal skills. Actors may be selected from the company or, depending or your cast size, carry just their one role. Gender: Female Vocal range: Bb4-Bb5 Susie & The Napkins Susie & The Napkins are a local band who have just come from a Battle of the Bands concert at the Paw Paw Community Center to sing "Say No Thank You." Susie and The Napkins should be able to move well, if you choose to choreograph the number. Johnny and The Queen act out the story in the lyrics. They are not required to sing, but to merely speak in rhythm during the song. Be sure you cast someone who can 'feel the beat.' Your actors may be selected from the company or, depending on your cast size, carry their one role. Gender: Both Vocal range: Bb3-D5 Johnny and Queen of Boola Boola Susie and The Napkins are a local band who have just come from a Battle of the Bands concert at the Paw Paw Community Center to sing "Say No Thank You." Susie and The Napkins should be able to move well, if you choose to choreograph the number. Johnny and The Queen act out the story in the lyrics. They are not required to sing, but to merely speak in rhythm during the song. Be sure you cast someone who can 'feel the beat.' Your actors may be selected from the company or, depending on your cast size, carry their one role. Gender: Both Vocal range: A3-F5 Lola New to America, Lola expresses her shyness in the song, "Hola, Lola." It would be helpful if this actor speaks Spanish or has a good ear for languages. She may be selected from the company or, depending on your cast size, carry this one role. Gender: Female Vocal range: B2-A4 Harry Lola's cousin and the reason she flies from Lima, Peru, to Honolulu. He is a fun, happy-go-lucky character who just wants to make sure his favorite cousin is having a good time. Harry may be selected from the company or, depending on your cast size, carry this one role. Gender: Male Vocal range: Ab2-C#4 Mary Sue Betty Bob Mary Sue Betty Bob's backup for "Put it in the Piggy." The girl company members play the "Girls" and the "Pigs" are played by the boy company members. Vocal range: C4-D5 Farmer Jerry, Girls and Pigs Mary Sue Betty Bob's backup for "Put it in the Piggy." The girl company members play the "Girls" and the "Pigs" are played by the boy company members. Gender: Male Katie Spoonapple Edwina's little sister and a math wiz. Although she arrives at the end of the play, she has the very important role of influencing Edwina's thoughts and feelings. It is Katie that brings about the climax of the play, showing Edwina the "best advice of all." Choose an actor who looks younger than Edwina or is diminutive in stature. Gender: Female Ann Van Buren The Kalamazoo Advice-A-Palooza talent scout. She is represented only by a brief voice-over that may be recorded beforehand. When it comes to casting this voice, think very L.A., sweetie darling. Gender: Female Myra/Myron Spoonapple Edwina's little sister/brother and musical director of The Dear Edwina Show (played by the Musical Director). Gender: Both Joe/Jo Spoonapple Edwina's older brother/sister. Percussionist of The Dear Edwina Show. Gender: Both

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2020 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2020 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 2, 2020. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Merissa Beddows School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Reese Revak Voice Teacher: Julia Faulkner Second Place Marieke de Koker School: DePaul University Location: Chicago, IL Pianist: Lillia Woolschlager Voice Teacher: Jeffrey Ray Third Place (tie) Aaron Crouch School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Anton Mejias Voice Teacher: Kevin Short Third Place (tie) Margaret Ann Zentner School: University of North Carolina School of the Arts Location: Winston-Salem, NC Pianist: Angela Ward Voice Teacher: Marilyn Taylor Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Sophia Daisy Chesler School: New England Conservatory of Music Watch Video Dirk Holzman School: University of Maryland Watch Video Sophie Naubert School: Conservatoire de musique de Montréal Watch Video Alexis Seminario School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place Caitlin Chisham School: Derby High School Location: Derby, KS Pianist: Abby Kamunge Voice Teacher: Cristina Castaldi Second Place (tie) Rachel Schlesinger School: North Shore Hebrew Academy Location: Roslyn Heights, NY Pianist: Youn Ju Namkoong Voice Teacher: Jennifer Grimaldi Second Place (tie) Leland Smith School: Amador Valley High Schooll Location: Pleasonton, CA Pianist: Jeff Smith Voice Teacher: Jimmy Kansau Third Place (tie) Lexi Lanni School: La Salle Academy Location: Bristol, RH Pianist: Michelle Beaton Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Heath Third Place (tie) Ella Rescigno School: Spring Valley High School Location: Columbia, SC Pianist: Luke Fang Voice Teacher: Rachel Calloway Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Bradley Boatright Location: Smithville, TX Watch Video Emily Mulva Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Alasdair Payten Location: San Francisco, CA Watch Video Brendan Reeves Location: Aliso Viejo, CA Watch Video Emily Wrede Location: Lexington, KY Watch Video Emmanuel Yogue Location: Los Angeles, CA Watch Video Anna Zavelson Location: Austin, TX Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place Janice Chong Location: Saratoga, CA Voice Teacher: Liya Fang Second Place (tie) Aliyah Douglas Location: Oro Valley, AZ Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Second Place (tie) Isabel Hernandez Location: Winnetka, IL Voice Teacher: Dorothy Lloyd Third Place (tie) Karly Chan Location: Great Neck, NY Voice Teacher: Jeanai La Vita Third Place (tie) Ari Tujian Location: La Canada, CA Voice Teacher: Jeffrey Kim Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Benjamin Barham-Wiese Location: New York, NY Watch Video Saman de Silva Location: Los Altos Hills, CA Watch Video Tiffany Ho Location: Santa Clara, CA Watch Video Amelia Knight Location: Chandler, AZ Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Katherine Ryan Location: Pearl River, NY Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Second Place (tie) Kendall Sorenson Location: Armonk, NY Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Liliana Sotirova, Glenn Gordon Second Place (tie) Lily Yezdanian Location: Clifton, NJ Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Liliana Sotirova Third Place (tie) Baylee Horvath Location: Gilbert, AZ Voice Teacher: Nicole Jensen Third Place (tie) Avery Nokes Location: Arlington, VA Voice Teacher: Tricia Grey Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Charlotte Dugan Location: Derry, NH Watch Video Kylee Hope Geraci Location: Alexandria, VA Watch Video Logan Hoyt Location: Arlington, TX Watch Video Bella Leybovich Location: Chandler, AZ Watch Video Sindhu Vemulapalli Location: Folsom, CA Watch Video Gloria Wang Location: Johns Creek, GA Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Angel Tolbert Location: Belton, TX Second Place (tie) Ashlyn Combs Location: Rock Hill, SC Second Place (tie) Chloe Hayes Location: Decatur, IL Pianist: Ron Maurey Third Place Shavon Lloyd Location: Potsdam, NY Pianist: Jeffrey Francom Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Claire Abramson Location: Pflugerville, TX Pianist: Carlos Quesada Watch Video Dirk Holzman Location: College Park, MD Pianist: Andrew Welch Watch Video Chris McCloskey Location: Belton, TX Watch Video Anthony Procopio Location: Tempe, AZ Pianist: Masaru Sakuma Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place Anna Zavelson Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Shaunna Shandro Second Place (tie) Lexi Lanni Location: Bristol, RH Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Heath Second Place (tie) Ella Rescigno Location: Columbia, SC Voice Teacher: Casey Erin Clark Third Place (tie) Abby Hanna Location: Franklin, WI Voice Teacher: Christine Flasch Third Place (tie) Abigail Storm Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Max Connor Location: Framingham, MA Watch Video Kimball White Demars Location: Greenacres, WA Watch Video Gianna DiTucci Location: Wayne, NJ Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place Ellie Brenner Location: Durand, WI Voice Teacher: Kathleen Sherman Second Place (tie) Amelia Gibbons Location: De Pere, WI Pianist: Kent Paulsen Voice Teacher: Kaara McHugh Second Place (tie) Berkley Landreth Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Third Place (tie) Shayla He Location: Saratoga, CA Pianist: Briana Ung Voice Teacher: Alison Colllins Third Place (tie) Natalie Wiley Location: St. Charles, IL Voice Teacher: Dawn Harkins Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Becki Digby Location: Clarence, NY Pianist: Kimberly Potfora Watch Video Makenna Jacobs Location: Chandler, AZ Pianist: Jenn Crandall Watch Video Nicole Jones Location: Alexandria, VA Pianist: Esther Covington Watch Video Lea Mendelson Location: Lodi, NJ Watch Video Bria Petrella Location: Cinnaminson, NJ Watch Video Lauren Sun Location: Rye Brook, NY Pianist: Shane Schag Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Charlotte MacLeod Location: New York, NY Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Second Place (tie) William Hanxi Forbes Location: Mississauga, ON Voice Teacher: Angela Sanchez Second Place (tie) Baylee Horvath Location: Gilbert, AZ Voice Teacher: Nicole Jensen Third Place (tie) Katherine Berdovskiy Location: Davis, CA Voice Teacher: Irina Leykina Third Place (tie) Lila Poore Location: Tucson, AZ Pianist: Sean Colbert Voice Teacher: Kaitlin Bertenshaw Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Ayla Collins Location: Alexandria, VA Watch Video Sienna Gasparrelli Location: Escondido, CA Watch Video Avery Nokes Location: Arlington, VA Watch Video Lauren Yeobin Part Location: Fort Lee, NJ Watch Video Steven Ricciardelli Location: Morristown, NJ Watch Video Katie Wylie Location: Franklin, MA Watch Video Back To Top

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2019 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2019 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 2, 2019. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Lindsey Reynolds School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Susan Nowicki Voice Teacher: Marlena Malas Second Place Ryan Hurley School: The Juilliard School Location: New York, NY Pianist: Amir Farid Voice Teacher: Edith Wiens Third Place (tie) Nicole Leung School: New England Conservatory Location: Boston, MA Pianist: Hanzheng Li Voice Teacher: Jane Eaglen Third Place (tie) Alexis Seminario School: Manhattan School of Music Location: New York, NY Pianist: Kanae Matsumoto Voice Teacher: Marlena Malas Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Evan Lazdowski School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video Shayne Piles School: Missouri State University Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place Callie Iliff School: Winberley High School Location: San Marcos, TX Pianist: Carlos Quesada Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Second Place (tie) Dalia Medovnikov School: Amity Regional High School Location: Woodbridge, CT Voice Teacher: Emily Olin Second Place (tie) Madelin Morales School: West Essex Regional High School Location: Fairfield, NJ Pianist: Shane Schag Voice Teacher: Jeanai LaVita Third Place (tie) Sam Dhobhany School: Edward R. Murrow High School Location: Brooklyn, NY Pianist: Kamal Khan Voice Teacher: Christine Moore Vassallo Third Place (tie) Madeleine Keane School: Divine Savior Holy Angels High School Location: Wauwatosa, WI Pianist: Martha Galvin Voice Teacher: Diane Lane Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Reed Gnepper Location: Cincinnati, OH Watch Video Ella Rescigno Location: Columbia, SC Watch Video Laura Stanell Location: Harleysville, PA Watch Video Nathan Schludecker Location: Terre Haute, IN Watch Video Molly Snodgrass Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Angelina Yi Location: Fort Lee, NJ Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place Anna Zavelson Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Shaunna Shandro Second Place (tie) Aliyah Douglas Location: Oro Valley, AZ Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Second Place (tie) Kinsey Neas Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Third Place (tie) Aida Skaraite Location: Lemont, IL Voice Teacher: Rachel Olson Third Place (tie) Nathan Weagraff Location: North Royalton, OH Voice Teacher: Susan Wallin Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Norah Bernstein Location: Charleston, SC Watch Video Harriet Chilton Location: Santa Barbara, CA Watch Video Hannah Cohen Location: Cherry Hill, NJ Watch Video Isabel Hernandez Location: Winnetka, IL Watch Video Lexi Lanni Location: Bristol, RI Watch Video Isabella Recktenwald Location: Louisville, KY Watch Video Leland Smith Location: Pleasanton, CA Watch Video Evelyn Voss Location: New Providence, NJ Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Natalie Huzij Location: Colorado Springs, CO Voice Teacher: Amy Mushall Second Place (tie) Sarah Cohen Location: Cherry Hill, NJ Voice Teacher: Kristine Biller Second Place (tie) Roger Wang Location: Suwanee, GA Voice Teacher: Qian Li Third Place (tie) Greta Blau Location: Ladera Ranch, CA Voice Teacher: Megan Theodorou Third Place (tie) Bridget Lomax Location: Short Hills, NJ Voice Teacher: Rebecca Thompson-Galecki Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Carter Berger Location: Mentions Marietta, GA Watch Video Ciela Elliott Location: Chappaqua, NY Watch Video Logan Hoyt Location: Arlington, TX Watch Video Lauren Moutvic Location: Winnetka, IL Watch Video Kendall Sorenson Location: Armonk, NY Watch Video Lauren Yeobin Park Location: Englewood, NJ Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place David Young Location: Miami, FL Pianist: Amanda Hopson Second Place (tie) Abby Kurth Location: Lincoln, NE Pianist: Louis Claussen Second Place (tie) Laura Lydia Paruzynski Location: Stevens Point, WI Pianist: Kristin Stowell Third Place Rodd Farhadi Location: Los Angeles, CA Pianist: Daniel Stromfeld Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Chloe Hayes Location: Decatur, IL Pianist: Ron Maurey Watch Video Rachel Horner Location: New Brunswick, NJ Pianist: Kyle Buchanan Watch Video Evan Lazdowski Location: New York, NY Pianist: Shane Schag Watch Video Julianna Smith Location: College Park, MD Pianist: Shuai Wang Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place Saoirse Ryhn School: Cedar Ridge High School Location: Round Rock, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Second Place (tie) Amanda Fawell School: Framingham High School Location: Framingham, MA Pianist: James Hay Voice Teacher: Eva Kendrick Second Place (tie) Chloe Goodman School: Westwood High School Location: Westwood, MA Pianist: Linnea Bardarson Voice Teacher: Barbara Arboleda Third Place (tie) Samantha Adams School: Ironwood Ridge High School Location: Tucson, AZ Pianist: Amy Barker Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Third Place (tie) Abigail Storm School: Zach Performing Arts Academy Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Summer Beckman Location: Fountain Hills, AZ Watch Video Laura Carpenter Location: Nashville, TN Watch Video Samantha Evans Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Sydney Jones Location: Kirkwood, MO Watch Video Sadie Shea Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Nicole Sugarman Location: Coral Springs, FL Watch Video Addie Wisniewski Location: Medina, OH Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place Aliyah Douglas Location: Oro Valley, AZ Pianist: Melissa Johnson Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Second Place (tie) Nicole Jones Location: Alexandria, VA Pianist: Elisa Rosman Voice Teacher: Aimee Barnes Second Place (tie) Anna Zavelson Location: Austin, TX Pianist: Susan Finnigan Voice Teacher: Shaunna Shandro Third Place (tie) Reese Carter Location: Las Vegas, NV Pianist: Rhonda Carlson Voice Teacher: Rhonda Carlson Third Place (tie) Lexi Lanni Location: Bristol, RI Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Heath Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Marina Jansen Location: New Market, MD Watch Video Arnav Khare Location: Bothell, WA Watch Video Isabella Ruano Location: Riverview, FL Watch Video Emma Wallace Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Nathan Weagraff Location: North Royalton, OH Watch Video Natalie Wiley Location: St. Charles, IL Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Alex Vacchiano Location: West Caldwell, NJ Pianist: David Shenton Voice Teacher: Jeanai La Vita Second Place (tie) Shayla He Location: Saratoga, CA Voice Teacher: Alison Collins Second Place (tie) Lauren Yeobin Park Location: Englewood, NJ Pianist: Glenn Gordan Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo and Liliana Sotirova Third Place (tie) Charlotte MacLeod Location: New York, NY Pianist: Gulnara Mitzanova Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Gulnara Mitzanova and Liliana Sotirova Third Place (tie) Steven Ricciardelli Location: Morristown, NJ Voice Teacher: Mariana Karpatova Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Elsa Dees Location: New York, NY Watch Video Winter Donnelly Location: New York, NY Watch Video Ciela Elliott Location: Chappaqua, NY Watch Video William Forbes Location: Mississauga, ON Watch Video Camryn Malo Location: Barrie, ON Watch Video Andrew Rickey Location: Voorhees, NJ Watch Video William Daniel Russell Location: Westwood, MA Watch Video Abby Springer Location: Mesa, AZ Watch Video Addison Valentino Location: Buchanan, NY Watch Video Katie Wylie Location: Franklin, MA Watch Video Brie Zimmer Location: New York, NY Watch Video Back To Top

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2021 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2021 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 2, 2021. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. Complete List of Winners View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Sophie Naubert School: Conservatoire de musique de Montréal Location: Montreal, Quebec Pianist: Chloe Dumoulin Voice Teacher: Aline Kutan Second Place (tie) Adam Catangui School: Eastman School of Music Location: Rochester, NY Voice Teacher: Nicole Cabell Second Place (tie) Dalia Medovnikov School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Emily Olin Voice Teacher: Emily Olin Third Place (tie) Colin Aikins School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Lisa Keller Voice Teacher: Julia Faulkner Third Place (tie) Kaya Giroux School: Carnegie Mellon University Location: Pittsburg, PA Pianist: Rosie Irwin Voice Teacher: Maria Spacagna Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Morgan Mastrangelo School: Northwestern University Watch Video Madison Miller School: University of Michigan Watch Video Madelin Morales School: Eastman School of Music Watch Video Rachel Schlesinger School: Purchase Conservatory of Music Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place Joseph Murphy School: Edward R. Murrow High School Location: Brooklyn, NY Pianist: Dmitry Glivinskiy Voice Teacher: Christine Moore Vassallo Second Place (tie) Bradley Boatright School: Smithville High School Location: Smithville, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Second Place (tie) Katherine Ramirez School: New Trail Homeschool Academy Location: San Antonio, TX Pianist: Daniel Zamora Voice Teacher: Crystal Jarrell Johnson Third Place (tie) Eloise Fox School: Avon Grove High School Location: Landenberg, PA Pianists: Katelan Tran Terrell, Mathew Odell Voice Teachers: Lorraine Nubar, Cynthia Sanner Third Place (tie) Saman de Silva School: Henry M. Gunn High School Location: Los Altos Hills, CA Voice Teacher: Jace Wittig Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Avni Kamat Location: Lexington, MA Watch Video Alison Kessler Location: New Rochelle, NY Watch Video Ava Kuntz Location: Santa Ana, CA Watch Video Lizi Kvernadze Location: Brooklyn, NY Watch Video Audrey Michael Location: Traverse City, MI Watch Video Ella Rescigno Location: Columbia, SC Watch Video Aida Skaraite Location: Lemont, IL Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place Kennedy Percival Location: Upland, CA Pianist: Desireé Bryner Voice Teacher: Camille Waage Second Place Lia Zheng Location: San Diego, CA Voice Teacher: Zeping Cai Third Place (tie) Evelyn Hsu Location: San Jose, CA Pianist: Dmitriy Cogan Voice Teacher: Haruna Shiokawa Third Place (tie) Andrea Nalywajko Location: New York, NY Pianist: Mun Tzung Wong Voice Teacher: Catherine Mazzone Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Jude Frazier Location: Orlando, FL Watch Video Christine Kelly Location: Geneva, IL Watch Video Aurna Mukherjee Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Avery Nokes Location: Arlington, VA Watch Video Lukas Palys Location: Dallas, TX Watch Video Evan Shidler Location: Short Hills, NJ Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Lily Yezdanian Location: Clifton, NJ Pianists: Liliana Sotirova, Glenn Gordon Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Heidi Hager Location: Herndon, VA Voice Teacher: Ingrid Lestrud Second Place (tie) Maya Louise Joshi Location: Cresskill, NJ Pianist: Liliana Sortirova Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon, Liliana Sotirova Third Place (tie) Katherine Berdovskiy Location: Davis, CA Voice Teacher: Irina Leykina Third Place (tie) Diya Koul Location: Lexington, MA Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Sterling Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Kayla Cochamiro Location: Short Hills, NJ Watch Video Baylee Horvath Location: Gilbert, AZ Watch Video Juliet Lee Location: Vienna, VA Watch Video Madison Miller Location: Ooltewah, TN Watch Video Luke Reimer Location: Coralville, IA Watch Video Chelsea Sun Location: University Park, TX Watch Video Gloria Wang Location: Johns Creek, GA Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Morgan Mastrangelo School: Northwestern University Location: Ridgewood, NJ Voice Teacher: Pamela Hinchman Second Place (tie) Ashlyn Combs Location: Nashville, TN Second Place (tie) Sarah Juliano School: University of Michigan Location: Ann Arbor, MI Pianist: Eric Banitt Voice Teacher: George Shirley Third Place (tie) Benjamin Perkinson School: University of Mary Hardin – Baylor Location: Fort Worth, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Third Place (tie) Piero Regis School: Boston Conservatory at Berklee Location: Katy, TX Pianist: Lindsay Albert Voice Teacher: Victor Jannet Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Margot Frank School: Millikin University Watch Video Shavon Lloyd School: SUNY Potsdam Crane School of Music Watch Video Madison Mille School: University of Michigan Watch Video Sabrina Shah Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place Aliyah Douglas School: Ironwood Ridge High School Location: Oro Valley, AZ Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Second Place (tie) Matthew Danforth School: The Dwight Englewood School Location: Demarest, NJ Pianists: Glenn Gordon, Steve Marzullo Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Alyssa Sunew School: Seven Lakes High School Location: Katy, TX Pianist: Jeannine Rowden Voice Teacher: Jeannine Rowden Third Place (tie) Ellie Brenner School: Interlochen Arts Academy Location: Durand, Wisconsin Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Gray Third Place (tie) Katrina Franco School: San Francisco University High School Location: San Francisco, CA Voice Teacher: Heidi Moss Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Serena Dailey Location: Brooklyn, NY Watch Video Amelia Gibbons Location: De Pere, WI Watch Video Rachel Ginn Location: Pewaukee, WI Watch Video Evelyn Hecht Location: Maple, Ontario Watch Video Ava Kuntz Location: Santa Ana, CA Watch Video Lauren Marchand Location: Jericho, NY Watch Video Kylie Merrill Location: Chandler, AZ Watch Video Janessa Minta Location: Corvallis, OR Watch Video Josh Pike Location: Peoria, AZ Watch Video Alexa Reeves Location: Cherry Hill, NJ Watch Video Ty’Ria Rounds Location: Alton, IL Watch Video Emma Wallace Location: Austin, TX Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place Lizzy Gill School: Dublin Hoffman High School Location: Dublin, OH Pianist: Amy Pottkotter Voice Teacher: Stephanie Henkle Second Place (tie) Christine Kelly School: Geneva High School Location: Geneva, IL Pianist: Clare Chenoweth Voice Teacher: JoEllyn Caulfield Second Place (tie) Rachel Parsons School: Thomas Jefferson High School Location: Clairton, PA Voice Teacher: Erin Kesser Third Place (tie) Emelia Aceto School: Highland High School Location: Hinckley, OH Voice Teacher: Denise Milner Howell Third Place (tie) Callie Chae Pyken School: Colburn School Location: Los Angeles, CA Pianist: Nick Wilders Voice Teachers: Julia Gregory, Cassie Okenka Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Sienna Gasparrelli Location: Escondido, CA Watch Video Morgan Greco Location: Camas, WA Watch Video Shayla He Location: Saratoga, CA Watch Video Clare Keman Location: Southlake, TX Watch Video Christopher Kranenburg Location: Central Point, OR Watch Video Camryn Malo Location: Barrie, Ontario Watch Video Aurna Mukherjee Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Amanda Swickle Location: Jericho, NY Watch Video Ananya Yadati Location: Beachwood, OH Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Katherine Berdovskiy Location: Davis, CA Voice Teacher: Irina Leykina Second Place (tie) Ayla Collin Location: Alexandria, VA Voice Teacher: Aimee Barnes Second Place (tie) Charlie Russell Location: Alexandria, VA Voice Teacher: Aimee Barnes Third Place (tie) Agustya Harsh Location: Alexandria, VA Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Liliana Sotirova, Glenn Gordon Third Place (tie) Caitlin Hayles Location: Brooklyn, NY Pianist: Shane Schag Voice Teacher: Jeanai La Vita Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Anna Burnham Location: Georgetown, IN Watch Video Ryan Coglianese Location: Western Springs, IL Watch Video Robbie Crandall Location: Tenafly, NJ Watch Video Amelie Cruz Location: Chicago, IL Watch Video Elsa Dees Location: Greenwich, CT Watch Video Baylee Horvath Location: Gilbert, AZ Watch Video Ashley Hua Location: Marietta, GA Watch Video Maya Louise Joshi Location: Cresskill, NJ Watch Video Anna Smith Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Addison Valentino Location: Buchanan, NY Watch Video Lily Yezdanian Location: Clifton, NY Watch Video Back To Top

20th Century French Art Songs | Hal Leonard Hal Leonard Online - French Art Songs 20th CENTURY FRENCH ART SONGS Mélodies française du XXe siècle Edited by Carol Kimball Published by Éditions Durand DF 16250/HL 50565798 High Voice edition DF 16251/HL 50565799 Medium/Low Voice edition Distributed in Europe and Asia by Hal Leonard MGB Distributed in North and South America by Hal Leonard Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Hal Leonard Australia Download & Print Introductory Notes Complete Online Introductory Notes, Unabridged copyright © 2015 Editions Durand An abridged version of editor Carol Kimball’s “Introduction” appears in the High Voice and Medium/Low Voice publications. Her complete length “Introduction” appears below. See the publications for the poetry texts in French and translations in English. GEORGES AURIC CLAUDE DEBUSSY HENRI DUTILLEUX GABRIEL FAURÉ REYNALDO HAHN ARTHUR HONEGGER JACQUES LEGUERNEY OLIVIER MESSIAEN DARIUS MILHAUD FRANCIS POULENC MAURICE RAVEL ALBERT ROUSSEL ERIK SATIE DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC GEORGES AURIC (1899-1983) George Auric was something of a child prodigy, performing a piano recital at the Musicale Indépendante at the age of fourteen. The following year, the Société Nationale de Musique performed several songs he had composed. He studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire with Georges Caussade, and later with Vincent d’Indy and Albert Roussel at the Schola Cantorum de Paris. Before he was twenty, Auric had orchestrated and written incidental music for several stage productions and ballets. He composed a significant amount of avant-garde music during the years between 1910-20. Around 1914, he widened his acquaintances to include members of Les Six, a group of composers informally associated with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau, and became a part of their group. Auric and Francis Poulenc became fast friends and remained so for life. Music criticism was an important part of Auric’s career; his writing focused on promoting the ideals of Les Six and Cocteau. He was also especially known for his film scores, which are consistently imaginative. He forged a major career in the English movies of the 1940s and ’50s. Among his most well-known scores is the music for the film Moulin Rouge. Other popular film titles with scores by Auric include The Lavender Hill Mob, Roman Holiday, Beauty and the Beast, and Bonjour Tristesse. In 1962 he became the director of the Opéra National de Paris and later, chairman of SACEM, the French Performing Rights Society. Auric continued to write classical chamber music until his death. Le Jeune sanguine (1940) from Trois Poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin poem by Louise de Vilmorin (1902-1969) This mélodie is the second song in Auric’s cycle titled Trois poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin. Vilmorin’s poetry reverberates with sensitivity to affairs of the heart. She was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets; he set her poetry when writing specifically for the female voice, such as in Fiançailles pour rire. A sort of veiled humor is at the heart of this text that describes a young hussy whose lover departs early with the dawn’s first light, leaving her weeping disconsolately. Auric provides a prelude and postlude for formal balance as the miserable young woman mourns her loss. He also inserts several unexpected and amusing measures of a tango as the young man arches his back and leaves the sound of her sobbing. For his three Vilmorin songs, Auric used the style of a chansonette, or more popular song. Printemps (1935) Poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Auric composed this lilting waltz song for a play by Edouard Bourdet titled La Reine Margot (1935). The celebrated musical theatre actress-singer Yvonne Printemps created the role of Queen Margot of Navarre at Théâtre de la Michodière. Auric and Francis Poulenc collaborated on the incidental music for this play; Poulenc took the second act, Auric the first. Poulenc composed the Suite française and the song “A sa guitare”; Auric’s contribution was “Printemps.” Yvonne Printemps sang both songs in the play. Both composers used texts by Pierre de Ronsard, and the musical style of each is reminiscent of the Renaissance. Ronsard’s original poem had twenty-three stanzas. Auric set only the first three. BACK TO TOP CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Claude Debussy wrote expertly for the voice and was acutely responsive to transforming poetic nuance into musical expression. Possibly no other French composer was as attuned to blending poetry and music. His literary taste was highly refined and he maintained a visible and active role in the literary and artistic circles of his time. He chose to set poetry of his contemporaries, notably Verlaine and Mallarmé. Verlaine’s verse with its inherent musical qualities, provided Debussy with poetry for numerous works. For Debussy, poetry as poetry was the paramount determinant of the musical texture. His ability to detect the essence of a poem and perfectly transform it into musical expression makes his mélodies unique in the history of French song. Le promenoir des deux amants (1904, 1910) poems by Tristan l’Hermite (c. 1601-1656) “Auprès de cette grotte sombre,” the first song, made its first appearance with the title “La Grotte,” song two of Trois chansons de France of 1904. In 1910, it was retitled and combined with two other poems by Tristan l’Hermite (“Crois mon conseil, chère Climène” and “Je tremble en voyant ton visage”) to form the miniature cycle Le Promenoir de deux amants, which has been called the finest of all Debussy’s works for voice and piano. It is also the least-often performed. Debussy chose the texts from Les Amours de Tristan, a collection by the seventeenth-century poet Tristan l’Hermite. The poems are set close to a grotto, secluded and silent. The transparent, barely stirring waters mingle with the silence of the cloistered spot, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. Debussy establishes an intimate, tender mood immediately and maintains this fragile mix of sound and color throughout the three mélodies. The interplay of resonance and texture in voice and piano results in an exquisite blend of light and shade, perfectly complementing l’Hermite’s poetic images. Subtly inflected vocal phrases are key to recreating the infinite calm and Pelléas-like atmosphere of the poetry, a perfect fusion of stillness and sensuality. Fêtes galantes II (1904) poems by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) Debussy’s fascination with the work of the French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine resulted in his setting to music no fewer than seventeen of Verlaine’s texts. He composed two sets of three songs each, both titled Fêtes galantes, the first in 1892, and the second in 1904. Fêtes galantes II, Debussy’s last setting of Verlaine, closely following the composition of his opera Pélleas et Mélisande, is representative of the composer’s mature vocal works. It is marked by sparser textures, freer tonalities and a more concentrated compositional style than the first set; but like the first set, Fêtes galantes II presents three unrelated songs. None of the Watteau-like scenes are found here; rather, these three poems are filled with mystery, and are without sentimentality. The theme of time appears in each of the poems: the first, sentimental youthful remembrances; the second, inexorable fleeting time; and finally in the last song, time never to be reclaimed. “Les Ingénus” recalls the first awakenings of sexual attraction, and deals with the breathless awe with which a group of unsophisticated young men of the mid-nineteenth century view their similarly naïve female companions. The scene unfolds in a highly chromatic texture, skillfully balanced to preserve the delicate, poignant images in Verlaine’s verse. Debussy’s free-floating harmonies are carefully contrived to complement the uncertain emotions and repressed sensations of the youths in the poem. “Le Faune” begins with a prelude; time unravels in an inflexible dance featuring a rhythmic, hypnotic figure in the piano, imaging the traditional reed pipe and “tambourin,” a small drum played with a stick. The old terra-cotta statue in Verlaine’s poem is probably the woodland god Pan, playing a monotonous rhythm that is both sensual and slightly menacing, matching the mood of the two mélancolique pélerins. Mesmerized by the repetitive rhythms of drum and reed flute, the dejected travelers are caught in the whirlpool of passing time, which spins past as they watch helplessly. “Colloque sentimental.” Colloquial (colloque) refers to ordinary speech or conversation. This disturbing poem is the touchstone of one of Debussy’s great mélodies. It is the last poem in Verlaine’s collection titled Fêtes galantes, and provides a chilling climax. It blends themes of despair, death and disillusion. In this extraordinary song, the ghosts of two lovers meet in a wintry park. As they speak of their former love, their words match the setting: glacial and detached from feeling. Throughout the song their wintry words are enhanced by Debussy’s simple and subtle vocal treatment: one voice urgent and persistent, the other stonily indifferent. Debussy’s manipulation of musical texture between voice and piano is masterful. The sparse vocal lines are almost speech-like, and the piano figures mirror the frozen landscape in which this conversation–equally cold–takes place. The song’s kinship to Debussy’s opera Pélleas et Mélisande is unmistakable. The listener becomes one with the poem’s narrator, straining to see and hear the couple’s conversation in the icy cold of the deserted, frozen park. Debussy reaches back to “En sourdine” (the first mélodie of Fêtes galantes I), takes the wistful song of the nightingale, and inserts it into this song at various points. The nightingale’s melody (“voix de nôtre dessespoir, le rossignol chantera”) provides a touching and melancholy association, linking the two sets of Fêtes galantes together symbolically and musically, foreshadowing the disenchantment of love hinted at in “En sourdine” with the lovers’ conversation in “Colloque sentimental,” and unifying the two sets by a subtle musical component. This panel of three mélodies was Debussy’s last setting of the poetry of Paul Verlaine. Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maisons (1915) poem by the composer This is Debussy’s last song, written to his own text, a Christmas carol for children made homeless by World War I. Its intensity comes from its simple sincerity. Debussy composed it on the eve of his first operation for the cancer that would end his life two years later. It was his personal protest against the invasion of northern France by the German armies. When asked for permission to orchestrate the song, Debussy refused, saying, “I want this piece to be sung with the most discreet accompaniment. Not a word of the text must be lost, inspired as it is by the rapacity of our enemies. It is the only way I have to fight the war.” Originally composed in 1915 for piano and voice, Debussy also created a version for children’s chorus, and in 1916, a version for piano and two sopranos. BACK TO TOP HENRI DUTILLEUX (1916-2013) Henri Dutilleux studied at the Paris Conservatory with Maurice Emmanuel. He received the Prix de Rome in 1938 at age twenty-two, and went on to work at the Paris Opéra and the French Radio. France’s musical institutions defined his career: in 1961, he joined the faculty at the école Normale de Musique, teaching composition. In 1970, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire. He destroyed many of his early works, considering them derivative of Ravel, the preeminent composer in France during his youth. His music that had been published avoided demolition. After World War II, Dutilleux concentrated almost exclusively on instrumental and orchestral music, much of which has been widely programmed and recorded. His songs are not well known. In the chronological catalogue of his compositions, beginning in 1929, the Quatre mélodies for mezzo soprano or baritone is only the eleventh entry. It also exists in an orchestral version. The collection is dedicated to the French baritone Charles Panzéra and his wife, pianist Magdeleine Panzéra-Baillot, prominent interpreters of French song in the interwar years. Gabriel Fauré dedicated his last cycle, L’horizon chimérique, to Panzéra. Quatre mélodies (1942) uses poems by four different poets and presents a delightful collection of moods, although it must be admitted that the level of the poetry is not uniformly high: “Féérie au clair de lune” (poem by Raymond Genty), a graceful scherzo of dancing fairies that evokes Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; “Pour une amie perdue” (Edmond Borsent); “Regards sur l’infini” (Anna de Noailles); and “Fantasio” (André Bellessort). The last mélodie is the most successful of the set and is one of two songs from the set (the other being “Pour une amie perdue”) that Dutilleux acknowledged. He wanted to exclude the first and third songs because their poetry was relatively mediocre. Fantasio (1942) from Quatre Mélodies poem by André Bellessort (1866-1942) “Fantasio” (the original title of Bellessort’s poem is “Les funérailles de Fantasio”) is a colorful poem that chronicles the funeral of the titled character, who has expired before the text begins. The poem, set in Venice during Carnival, is full of glittering and compelling imagery that changes quickly, following the pace of the Carnival. Musical textures are skillfully handled and exhibit some of Dutilleux’s developing style. “Pauvre Fantasio,” is heard several times during the text, acting as both a funereal chant that unifies the proceedings and perhaps as well, keeping the mourners’ footsteps marching together. BACK TO TOP GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924) Gabriel Fauré was one of the great composers of French song who, with Duparc and Debussy, perfected the mélodie as a true art song form. He composed about a hundred songs, all original in conception, constantly developing in style, and pointing the way to future works. His songs express a broad range of emotion and a great variety of musical textures, extending the musical parameters of the genre and inspiring new techniques of song compositions. His songs are often divided into three compositional periods for purposes of study and definition. Fauré has been characterized as a skillful watchmaker; with great precision his songs, which overflow with subtle nuances and delicate detail. His approach is in keeping with the French musical aesthetic: elegant and rational, dealing with sentiment rather than literal sensation. He was able to capture the entire poetic mood of each poem he set and to create an aura around it with his musical setting. Dans la fôret de septembre, Op. 85, No. 1 (1902) poem by Catulle Mendès (1841-1909) This touching poem symbolizes the onset of old age. Mendès was among the founders of a literary magazine, La Revue fantaisiste, which published many poems of the Parnassian poets. Fauré’s musical style perfectly suited this style of poetry: elegance of style, richness of rhyme, regularity and symmetry of rhythm. The Parnassians avoided the excessively romantic and aimed for “art-for-art’s sake.” Fauré was nearly sixty years old when he composed this mélodie, and his reaction to this poem is beautifully poignant. The words describe the poet’s reflective walk through a quiet, somber forest, capturing the chill of mortality and the overall mood of the turning point of life. The ancient forest, sensing a kindred spirit, provides the walker with a sign of friendship and understanding. Fauré set this contemplative poem in a rich harmonic musical texture with a vocal line that borders on quasi-recitative-like shapes. The solemn thoughts of old age call forth a melancholy, but it is a subtle melancholy. It is almost hymn-like in the fusion of words, emotions, and musical texture. This mélodie may be considered as marking the threshold to the final period of Fauré’s compositions. Accompagnement, Op. 85, No. 3 (1902) poem by Albert Victor Samain (1858-1900) This mélodie is a beautiful barcarolle–a nighttime scene, silvery and hazy, alluring but unreal. The image of the poet rowing on the lake is reflected in the musical texture. Fauré had a lifelong fascination with water imagery in music; this poem offers a little reel of unfolding pictures of a moonlight journey a dark lake. The words “dans le rêve” tell us that this is all a dream. This is a rarely sung Fauré mélodie that yields great rewards for the performer. Chanson, Op. 94 (1906) poem by Henri di Régnier (1864-1936) This poem has a gentle charm and a calm simplicity. It is the last of Fauré’s madrigals that include delicate love songs such as “Lydia,” and “Clair de lune.” It has a wonderful fluidity that is a perfect foil for the poetic images The text is a simple set of variations on one theme: nothing on earth has any meaning unless the beloved somehow touches it. Fauré’s reaction to the words called forth a musical setting of delicate transparency and limited range. It is not well known; like “Le Don silencieux,” “Chanson” was published as a single song and therefore not widely disseminated. It is an example of exquisitely planned musical economy, and definitely belongs in Fauré’s third period of musical compositions. Le Don silencieux, Op. 92 (1906) poem by Marie Closset (1875-1952), under the pseudonym Jean Dominique Here is another little known Fauré song, a rarity because it was published separately and was never included in any of the Fauré recueils. The poem has a gentle melancholy–the plea of a timid lover, a mixture of hope and imagined disappointment. The words are tender and flowing, but the overall mood is one of unrelieved sadness. This song marks the beginning of Fauré’s third compositional period, which includes the cycles La Chanson d’Eve, Le Jardin clos, Mirages, and L’Horizon chimérique. Writing of this mélodie in a letter to his wife, Fauré said, It does not in the least resemble any of my previous works, nor anything that I am aware of; I am very pleased about this...It translates the words gradually as they unfold themselves; it begins, opens out, and finishes, nothing more, nevertheless it is unified. 1 NOTES: Quoted in Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Guildhall School of Music and Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2009), 291. Quotation from Jean-Michel Nectoux, Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life, trans. Roger Nichols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 304. This is a translation of Fauré’s letter to his wife of 17 August 1906. BACK TO TOP REYNALDO HAHN (1875-1947) Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan by birth, came to Paris with his family at age four and made a brilliant career. In addition to his career as a composer and singer, he was director of the Paris Opéra, music critic for the newspaper Figaro, and conductor of the Salzburg Festival. He was enough of a scholar to edit some of the works of Rameau. He maintained close friendships throughout his life with actress Sarah Bernhardt and writer Marcel Proust. During the Belle époque, French mélodie was at the height of its development. Hahn was a habitué of the most fashionable salons, where he was in demand as a performer. On these occasions, he usually sang and played his own accompaniment, often with a cigarette dangling from his lips. The art of singing was one of his major passions, and he wrote three books on singing (Du chant, Thèmes varies, and L’oreille au guet), as well as a memoir of Sarah Bernhardt. Hahn’s songs are models of French restraint–devoid of overt display, with beautiful melodies in a modest vocal range. They reflect the style of his teacher, Jules Massenet. Hahn composed approximately ninety-five works for solo voice: eighty-four mélodies, five English songs to texts of Robert Louis Stevenson, and six Italian songs in the Venetian dialect. After 1912, Hahn composed in larger forms: opera, operetta, and film music. Perhaps his most famous work is his operetta Ciboulette (1923), which is still performed. À Chloris (1916) poem by Théophile de Viau (1590-1626) “À Chloris” is No. 14 in Deuxième volume de vingt mélodies, the last major publication of Hahn’s songs during his lifetime. In many of his later songs, he turned to a deliberately archaic style. “À Chloris” features an elegant vocal line above a piano texture that features Baroque musical characteristics; it is its own piece, with ornamented melody and chaconne-like bass. Vocal line and piano piece are woven into a musical tapestry that is both declarative and intimate. Poet Théophile de Viau was considered one of the most influential libertin poets during Louis XIII’s reign. The libertins’ verses had a unique charm that is instantly appealing, but somewhat artificial. Despite this, de Viau’s love poetry is not bland, but full of suggestive passion and elegant wit. BACK TO TOP ARTHUR HONEGGER (1892-1955) Arthur Honegger composed over forty mélodies for voice and piano. Taken as a whole, they are diverse and imaginative. For his texts, he favored contemporary poets such as Jean Cocteau, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Claudel, and Paul Fort. He also chose to set unrelated poems by a single poet, such as his Poesies (Cocteau) and Alcools (Apollinaire). Poetry with strong imagery appealed to the dramatist in his personality. For Honegger, as for most successful mélodie composers, the word provides the starting place. He is quoted as saying: For me, the music a song is always dependent upon the poetic model. It must join so closely with the poetry, that they become inseparable and one can picture the poem in wholly musical terms. This is not to say that the music becomes subservient. It must be so crafted that it can stand on its own merits, playable without the text, logical and complete. 1 Born of Swiss parents in Le Havre, France, Arthur Honegger initially studied for two years at the Zurich Conservatory, but enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire from 1911 to 1918, studying with Charles-Marie Widor and Vincent d’Indy. Some of his more familiar large vocal works include the dramatic psalm Le roi David (King David), composed in 1921 and still in the choral repertoire; and his dramatic oratorio of 1935, Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the stake), with text by Paul Claudel, considered to be one of his finest works. Between the world wars, he composed nine ballets and three vocal stage works, among works in other genres. His total compositional catalog is an impressive list of music: orchestral works, chamber music, concertos, ballets, operas, operettas, and oratorios. Widely known as a train enthusiast, he was passionately interested in locomotives, to which he attributed almost human characteristics. His “mouvement symphonique,” Pacific 231, gained him early acclaim in 1923. Honegger’s musical style is a fascinating mixture of impressionistic effects peppered with penetrating dissonances. He had a fondness for mixing tonalities and using modality. His compositions for the voice display an eclectic focus of coloristic harmonies and architectural clarity. He was a member of Les Six, but unlike most of that group, did not share their overwhelming reaction against German romanticism. Honegger’s musical style is fuller and more serious than his colleagues. He and Darius Milhaud were close friends. Honegger’s generous body of song has proved of enduring interest to contemporary performers. His was a distinctive voice in the vocal music of the twentieth-century French mélodie. Trois Psaumes (1940-41) from the Huguenot Psalter Psaumes XXXIV and CXL translated by Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605) Psaume CXXXVIII translated by Clément Marot (1496-1544) The spirit of Bach shines in the first psaume, “Psalm 34,” in which a chant-like vocal line alternates with a gently moving episodic keyboard part. This call and response continues until the last three vocal phrases, when the vocal line merges with the instrumental texture in a psalm of praise. The second song is “Psalm 140,” “ô Dieu donne-moi la déliverance de cet homme pernicieux” (O God, deliver me from this evil man). Honegger’s biographer, Harry Halbreich, suggests that the “evil man” who was oppressing Europe in those last days of 1940 might be the reason for Honegger’s text choice. This piece was composed before the first and third songs. Its emotional mood peaks with the chorale tune “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” 2 The last song in the set, “Psalm 138,” has the Latin title “Confiteor tibi, Domine” (I thank thee, O Lord) and is a paraphrase by Clément Marot, one of the greatest of the French Renaissance poets. It contains a familiar chorale tune, which is used in canon between voice and piano. NOTES: Arthur Canter and Rachel Joselson, Liner notes, The Songs of Arthur Honegger and Jacques Leguerney. Rachel Joselson, Réne Lecuona , piano. Albany Records, TROY691, 2004. Harry Halbreich, trans. Roger Nichols, Arthur Honegger (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1999), 165. BACK TO TOP JACQUES LEGUERNEY (1906-1997) Most of Jacques Leguerney’s sixty-eight mélodies were composed and published from 1940 to 1964. Many were commissioned and premiered by French baritone Gérard Souzay, his sister, soprano Geneviève Touraine, and pianist Jacqueline Bonneau. Early songs are comparable in mood and style with Ravel or Roussel (who encouraged Leguerney’s composition); later songs have been compared to those of his contemporary, Poulenc. Leguerney writes virtuoso piano parts–often dramatic, and with such an individual sense of harmonic style and color that Pierre Bernac reportedly described them as “mélodies de pianist.” 1 When asked about Leguerney’s songs, Gérard Souzay wrote, “How does one describe this music which is, at the same time, classic and modern? It is pure, but colorfully nuanced; it speaks to the heart as well as the mind–at times calm at times witty–wise, yet sensual...” 2 Many of Leguerney’s songs deal with themes of love and nature, expressing a huge range of emotions from deeply felt meditation to wild, ribald humor. Leguerney stopped composing in 1964, and his songs became neglected. The quality of Leguerney’s text setting, lyrical beauty, and harmonic innovations all call for his songs to be better known and more widely performed. Jacques Leguerney was drawn to the work of Renaissance poets, notably Ronsard. There are eight collections titled Poèmes de la Pléaide, representing settings of sixteenth and seventeenth-century French poetry and totaling thirty-two songs. Additionally, there are cycles and other collections [for a complete listing of Leguerney’s songs, see Dibbern, Kimball, and Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney]. 3 They may be thought of as the last in the great mainstream of twentieth-century French song. La Caverne d’écho (1954) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 7 poem by Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant (1594-1661) Dedication: Josiane and Jean Cier. First performance: Bernard Kruysen, baritone; Jean-Charles Richard, pianist. 29 May 1965, Radio France Culture. Marc-Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant, wrote poetry of great descriptive power, and his use of language set him apart from the other seventeenth-century poets. He was also an adept musician and skillful lute player, writing verses that often describe musical sounds linked to visual images. The poem takes place in a dark cave, home of the nymph, Echo; it is a charmed place, absolutely still and peaceful. The poet’s lute resounds inside the cavern as he tries to soothe the inconsolable Echo, who mourns for her lover Narcissus. Leguerney creates the grotto’s mysterious resonance with bitonality. Piano figures illustrate the strumming of the lute. The text contains many sounds with the consonant “r.” The rolling quality of this speech sonority re-creates the cavern’s resonance. The closing measures of the mélodie produce a striking effect as the singer’s voice echoes eerily in the cavern, blending with the piano’s resonance and creating a remarkably realistic echo. À son page (1944) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 2 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Gérard Souzay. First performance: Gérard Souzay, baritone; Jacqueline Robin (Bonneau). 3 May 1945, Salle Gaveau, Paris. This is a lusty scene with four characters: a nobleman tipsy from drink, his page, and two women, Jeanne and Barbe. Carpe diem is the theme here. The singer philosophizes on this idea while enjoying his wine and the tender companionship of the two beautiful women. Leguerney evokes the crackling staccato of a stylized harpsichord with rhythmic accents in the piano. The text is brilliantly set with jagged vocal lines and driving rhythms that illustrate the singer’s intoxication. It ends with Leguerney’s repetition of the last poetic line and the addition of nonsense syllables which fit beautifully into the imagery and mood of Ronsard’s colorful characters. Je me lamente (1943) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 1 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Geneviève Touraine. First performance: Paul Derenne, tenor; Jeanne Blancard, pianist. 29 March 1944, Salle de l’Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris. This is one of Leguerney’s most beautiful songs, setting Pierre de Ronsard’s text from his collection of love poems for Marie Dupin, a country girl from a small village in southern France. She was half his age and probably represented the youth he constantly pursued. It has been suggested that the Marie in question was probably Marie de Clèves, passionately adored by Henri III. 4 Leguerney called this mélodie a constant crescendo from beginning to end. 5 Ronsard’s anguish is captured with a texture of stark chords, crowned by a regal and sustained vocal line. As the song progresses, the poet’s anguish is embodied in a more expansive texture, bidding Marie a happy resting place near God or in the Elysian fields. NOTES: Liner notes by Mary Dibbern. Mélodies sur poèmes de la Renaissance (Jacques Leguerney).Harmonia Mundi France. LP recording HMC 1171. Letter to the author. Quoted in Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun. Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001), 3. Ibid., 289-295. Ibid., 69. See note 20. Ibid., 70. BACK TO TOP OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908-1992) Olivier Messiaen was born in 1908 in Avignon, France, into a literary family. He grew up around words and absorbed their shapes, colors and sounds naturally. His father, Pierre Messiaen, was a well-known translator of Shakespeare, and his mother, Cécile Sauvage, was a poet. As a youngster, before beginning to compose music, he had an especially perceptive ear attuned to the unique prosody of the French language. Early in his compositional career, he published a book titled Technique de mon langage musical (1944). About his musical setting of words, Jane Manning observes: ...the syllables themselves create a glittering mosaic of sonorities and subtle resonances, in addition to their actual meaning (many of the poems do not translate at all satisfactorily). The composer’s awareness of the minutiae of verbal enunciations and articulations is miraculous. Each vocal sound can be precisely placed as intended, all dynamics are scrupulously plotted, and the performer’s involvement and intimate connection to the music is enhanced by the sensual nature of words projection... 1 He often used stained glass to explain his music. When viewed from a distance, the myriad details blend into a single entity, whose purpose is to dazzle the listener. Understanding is not necessary, feeling is the prime requisite. The music of Olivier Messiaen is a skillfully designed and unique language, with meaning and form kept separate. Its meaning is unchangeable, harkening back to Gregorian chant, culminating in instruments that are able to prolong sound (organ, strings, or the ondes Martenot). Messiaen’s musical language is defined by its rhythms and tone colors. His uncanny instinct for associating sound with color produced works unique in their concept of the combination of sounds. He said that when he heard or read music, his mind’s eye saw colors that move with the music; he sensed these colors, and at times he precisely indicated their arrangements in his scores. His fascination with birdsong was lifelong; he referred to himself as an ornithologist and tracked birds and their songs all over the world. He considered their resonances as songs and not merely sounds. He notated these on manuscript paper and they found their way into his music. Trois mélodies (1930) poems by Olivier Messiaen, Cécile Sauvage (1883-1927) This little cycle of songs is Messiaen’s first recognized work for voice and piano. The songs are modest in length and not typical of Messiaen’s later style, but show influences of late Fauré and Duparc in the overall musical texture. There is only one song in his vocal compositions in which Messiaen set the poetry of another poet. It is found in this cycle, which uses the text of his mother, the poet Cécile Sauvage, who died three years before the composition of this work. The three movements form a warm and delicate little triptych. Two of Messiaen’s own poems stand on either side of the poem by Cécile Sauvage, throwing that charming little poem into high relief. “Pourquoi?” introduces a litany of the pleasures of nature: birdsong, the unfolding seasons, and water images. The poet becomes emotional, asking why all these bring him no joy. “La Sourire,” the shortest song of the set, is a beautiful microcosm of intimate and spiritual understanding between two people. It is a delicate example of musical economy and word setting in a quasi-recitative style. The last song, “La fiancée perdue,” offers fleeting hints of Messiaen’s cycle to come, Poèmes pour Mi–most specifically, the final song. Here, the poet prays for divine blessing on the soul of the “fiancée” in the title. The fervent incantation illuminates and affirms man’s connection to a higher authority. Examining the poetic content of the three texts, we are struck by the images that underlie the words: the emotional outburst “pourquoi,” (why?), perhaps questioning the death of Cécile, followed by Cécile’s tender affirmation of love, and finally, the prayer asking for Divine grace and the blessing of the soul of the departed. NOTES: Jane Manning, “The Songs and Song Cycles,” in The Messiaen Companion, ed. Peter Hill (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995), 107. BACK TO TOP DARIUS MILHAUD (1892-1974) Darius Milhaud was probably the most prolific composer of the group known as Les Six (Francis Poulenc, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, Georges Auric, and Milhaud). The group was unified by friendship rather than a single musical style. Championed by influential writer Jean Cocteau and composer Erik Satie, Les Six often presented their works at the same concerts and met with great regularity–often at Milhaud’s house–to make music and exchange ideas. Louis Durey observed that it was the wide diversity in their personalities and musical styles that gave the group its rich depth and permitted its development. Embodied in the credo of their musical thought was relative sparseness of texture and clarity. Turn-of-the-century France offered popular entertainments that drew the French to an environment of merry-go-rounds, shooting galleries, outdoor concerts, circuses, and a jumble of excitement. Milhaud was fascinated by Parisian street life, and could hear the sounds of the Montmartre fair from his apartment. Often on their group outings, Les Six went together to the Cirque de Médrano to see the Fratellinis, a famous family of clowns of that day. Milhaud observed that their acts were worthy of the Commedia dell’arte. 1 Trois Poèmes de Jean Cocteau, Op. 59 (1920) poems by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) Trois poèmes de Jean Cocteau is like lyric fragments. The small-range vocal lines have a sparse lyricism–one of emotional mood rather than overt melody. The little mélodies are skillful studies in brevity. These match Cocteau’s rather enigmatic poems that exemplify the style termed dépouillé (stripped to the essentials), his aesthetic creed. Milhaud dedicated the songs to Satie. The three miniatures are a colorful kaleidoscope of the circus and the outdoor fairs that entranced the French during this period. “Fumée” describes the equestrienne of the Cirque Médrano atop a horse, jumping through hoops, captured in Toulouse-Lautrec’s familiar painting titled “L’écuyère au Cirque Fernando (1888); “Fête de Bordeaux” is a description of the merry-go-round at the Bordeaux fair; and “Fête de Montmartre” evokes the nighttime boats and sailors, possibly having to do with a game involving camouflaged ships found at the Montmartre fair. Milhaud infuses stylistic and melodic elements of folk songs and children’s tunes into the tiny pieces, tying the innate excitement of these popular destinations to simple, childlike reactions. NOTES: Laurence Davies, The Gallic Muse (New York: A.S. Barnes and Co., 1967), 164. BACK TO TOP FRANCIS POULENC (1899-1963) Francis Poulenc’s 150 mélodies form the largest body of songs to be added to French vocal literature in the twentieth century. Poulenc’s flair for the dramatic, combined with his superb skill in mixing poetry and music, produced songs that singers find immensely gratifying, not only for their musical value, but for their heightened sense of drama. Poulenc’s mélodies reflect concern and feeling for declamation, inflection, breathing, and above all, show extraordinary warmth of feeling for the human voice. He was fond of saying, “J’aime la voix humaine!” The sophistication of Poulenc’s songs spring from their poetic inspirations. Poulenc was quite knowledgeable about poetry, and chose his texts carefully. His gift of divining the inner life of the texts he set produced songs that do more than merely illustrate the poems. His gift for melody is at the very heart of all his songs and seems to assert itself naturally in shaping the color, weight, and meaning of the texts he set. Ce doux petit visage (1938) poem by Paul éluard (1895-1952) Paul Eluard was one of Poulenc’s three main poets. This is a beautiful introduction to Eluard’s poetry, lyrical and passionately intense. The simplicity of Poulenc’s setting allows the poem to shine. It is one of Poulenc’s tiny gems, and he admitted his partiality to the short song. Eluard’s skill at evoking nostalgia and melancholy are seen here, linked to lost youth. The mélodie is dedicated to the memory of Raymonde Linossier, Poulenc’s most intimate childhood friend, who influenced his literary taste and musical tendencies. He said: “I have a great liking for this short song. Raymonde Linossier was my best advisor for the music of my youth. How many times, during the years since her death, I would have liked to have had her opinion on this or the other of my works.” 1 La Grenouillère (1938) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) “La Grenouillère” is an outstanding example of Poulenc’s romantic lyricism. This is a text by Guillaume Apollinaire describing the Ile de Croissy, an island in the Seine on the outskirts of Paris, frequented by artists and their models, and celebrated in paintings by Monet, Manet, and Renoir. “The Froggery” was a restaurant on the island. The overall images of happy days that cannot be relived can be seen in Pierre Auguste Renoir’s paintings Les Déjeuner des canotiers (The Boatman’s Luncheon), or La Grenouillère. In this lament for boating parties on the Seine, vocal phrases are sustained and languid, floating over a slowly rocking piano accompaniment. The lazy piano figures mirror the empty tethered boats rocking on the water, bumping against each other, and give expression to the sweet melancholy of the poet’s words. Montparnasse (1945) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Apollinaire’s poem is dated 1912. Poulenc writes in his journal of songs that it took him four years to complete “Montparnasse,” almost phrase by phrase, and that he had no regrets about the length of time it took because “it is one of my best songs.” 2 It is a sentimental and heartfelt tribute to Paris. Both Apollinaire and Poulenc loved the city and it played a continuing role in their work. “Montparnasse” is about the idyllic artistic existence lived at the edge of Paris. Poulenc wrote in his diary: “Let us imagine this Montparnasse all at once discovered by Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, Apollinaire.” 3 The mélodie has a carefree nonchalance about it; it is not sad, but thoughtful– a beautiful blend of poetic and musical lyricism. Poulenc’s vocal and harmonic textures are full of surprising harmonic details that bind this song–which he composed in fragments–together into a touching and expressive picture of Paris in the early years of the twentieth century. Bleuet (1939) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Guillaume Apollinaire was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets. This is a wartime poem that Apollinaire penned in 1917 in Paris in convalescence after a head injury; both Apollinaire and Poulenc served in World War II. There are several word plays at work here. “Bleuet” was the nickname for French soldiers in World War I, because their uniforms were blue, like the color of a little cornflower, which is a “bleuet.” Also, “Un bleu” was the term used for a raw recruit. “Bleuet” is one of Poulenc’s most moving songs– agonizing in its emotional content yet noble in its message. It is a quiet and private moment in which a twenty-year-old boy who does not yet know all that life can be, is characterized–and addressed–by the poet in a sweetly serious speech. Poulenc wrote that for him, the key to the poem were the words, “It is five o’clock and you would know how to die.” 4 This song is simple, intimate, and poignant. Les Chemins de l’amour (1940) poem by Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) Poulenc composed this valse chantée as incidental music for Léocadia, a play by Jean Anouilh. Within the play, the song was described as a pseudo Viennese waltz, and functioned as a leitmotiv in the plot. Sung by Yvonne Printemps, one of France’s most celebrated musical theatre stars, “Les Chemins de l’amour” became a popular success. It embodies the relaxed elegance of a self-styled Viennese waltz style, encased in one of Poulenc’s haunting melodies. Banalités (1940) poems by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Banalités is not a cycle, but a group of five songs. The poems have no connection with each other; however, their order provides a well-constructed recital group. They may be performed separately. The work is one of Poulenc’s most popular vocal works, and deservedly so. Poulenc chose contrasting poems, placing them so that the collection begins briskly and ends with lyrical gravity. “Chanson d’Orkenise” is Poulenc’s title for the poem contained in the strange mixture of prose and poetry that Apollinaire called Onirocritique. Orkenise is a road in Autun leading to the Roman gate of the same name. The musical setting has the feeling of a popular folk song. The narrator sings of a tramp leaving the city and a carter who is entering it - one leaving his heart there, one bringing his heart to be married. There is a word in the poem with a double meaning: “grise” can be translated as “gray” or “tipsy.” The merry quality of the song opens the set with gaiety, but both Apollinaire and Poulenc offer a little food for thought. “Hôtel” is a poem that immediately represented for Poulenc a hotel room in Montparnassse, where the idle poet wants only to bask in the sun’s warmth and smoke. Pierre Bernac referred to it as “the laziest song ever written.” 5 The piano figures are fashioned of Poulenc’s luxuriant chromatic harmonies, stacked as if to cushion the lethargy of the singer. “Fagnes de Wallonie” is set in the gloomy, desolate uplands of the Ardennes with a terrain of vast heaths, twisted trees, and peat bogs, swept by winds of considerable force. Its gloomy setting complements the melancholy mood of the poet. Poulenc’s spiky musical setting is a whirlwind that sweeps from beginning to end in a turbulent texture that demands precise articulation from singer and pianist. Sandwiched between Songs 3 and 5 is a tiny bonbon, “Voyage à Paris.” It resembles a little commercial jingle about Paris–“which one day love must have created”–an invitation to the pleasures of that beautiful city, away from “the dreary countryside.” Poulenc sprinkles his quicksilver setting–a valse-musette–with indications of “amiable” and “avec charme.” The composer referred to it as having “deliciously stupid lines...Anything that concerns Paris I approach with tears in my eyes and my head full of music.” 6 The cycle concludes with “Sanglots”, one of Apollinaire’s finest poems about the universality of lost love, a theme that Poulenc matches with exquisite modulations in a setting that embodies the essence of the words. The vocal lines are eloquently lyrical. The poem is difficult to understand because of the juxtaposition of the main narrative and the interior “asides,” that in effect form a poem within a poem. 7 The song has an elegant serenity that culminates in a stunning climactic point at the words: “Est mort d’amour ou c’est tout comme/ Est mort d’amour et le voici.” The ending lines of the song sustain the profoundly calm mood, bringing Banalités to its close. La Courte Paille (1960) poems by Maurice Carême (1899-1978) The last song cycle Poulenc composed was La Courte paille, on seven poems of Belgian poet Maurice Carême. Poulenc composed the songs for soprano Denise Duval, creator of leading roles in his three operas, hoping that she would sing them to her young son. Poulenc considered the mélodies very poetic and whimsical; unfortunately, Duval disliked the music and never did sing the cycle. Poulenc asked Carême to provide an overall title for the work and requested permission to change the titles of several selected poems: the original title of “Quelle aventure!” is “Une puce et l’éléphant”; “Le Reine de cœur” is “Vitres de lune”; “Le carafon” is “La carafe et le carafon.” For the cycle’s title, Carême chose La Courte Paille (The Short Straw), referring to drawing lots by the method of a short straw. Poulenc was delighted, saying the title symbolized his little musical game exactly. He also wrote in his diary, “They must be sung tenderly; that is the surest way to touch the heart of a child.” 8 The cycle is full of child-like innocence, whimsy and imagination, with a few shadowy undertones. The first song, “Le Sommeil,” is a beautiful lullaby to a restless child who cannot go to sleep, tossing and turning in his small bed. He seems ill, crying and perspiring, but hopefully will finally surrender to slumber. In “Quelle aventure!” the child describes an absurd happening: he saw a flea driving a carriage with a small elephant in it. The story grows more bizarre but the rhythmic pace never wavers, careening to the end of the song when the child wonders how on earth he’ll ever be able to persuade “Mama” that it really happened. The verses are witty, yet the shrieks of “Mon Dieu!” are laced with a feeling of childish terror. “La Reine du cœur” is a beautiful, languid melody that paints a picture of the mysterious Queen of Hearts, beckoning to visitors from her frosty castle, where she reigns over a court of lovers, including the young dead. In “Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu...,” the child is chided “on all sides” about studying. The title of the song presents the French vowels, and the text contains words that make their plural with an “x” (“pou, chou, genou, hibou”). The formidable cat of the poem’s opening lines is none other than that tricky feline Puss-in-Boots! The entire song is a little tongue-twister, an exercise in diction and accuracy. “Les anges musiciens” are none other than the school children staying home on Thursday, the half-day school holiday in France in Poulenc’s time, practicing Mozart on their harps, just like good little angel musicians should do. “Le carafon” is a crazy little story of a carafe that longs for a baby carafe (carafon) just like the giraffe at the zoo, who has a girafon. This is a ridiculous rhyming game like those that children love to play. The text is full of whimsical characters: the carafe, a giraffe, a sorcerer astride a phonograph, Merlin, and finally, a carafon. “Lune d’Avril” is another lullaby, very slow and otherworldly, which serves as an epilogue. Bound together in a musical texture that features a syncopated pedal point, it is filled with enchanted images the child wishes to dream about: a land of joy, light, and flowers where all guns are silent. The ending leaves the listener suspended in a mood of unfinished magic. La Courte Paille is the last vocal music Poulenc composed. NOTES: Quoted in Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1977), 125. Francis Poulenc, Journal de mes mélodies, trans. Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, 1985), 75. Ibid., 75. Ibid., 57. Bernac, 72. Poulenc, 67. The English translation of “Sanglots” has parentheses that delineate the “asides” so that both “poems” may be seen. These may be found in Pierre Bernac’s books Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, page 75, or The Interpretation of French Song, pages 284-85 Poulenc, 109. BACK TO TOP MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) The songs of Maurice Ravel represent a transition between the mature mélodies of Debussy and the vocal literature that followed, notably the songs of Les Six. Debussy dominated the French musical scene from the turn of the century until his death in 1918. It was Ravel who was regarded as the leading musical spokesman for France following World War I. He was a skillful craftsman and his songs have a sense of evenness of rhythmic structure and flow that call for scrupulous execution. The fusion of music and text into a logical whole was of utmost importance to him. He composed elegant and subtle mélodies, using classical phrase structure. His melodic phrases often tend toward modality. His songs range from those with a folk-like style to more to those that are more speech-like, and those that encompass a melodic romanticism. He was precise in his thought and his scoring, and scrupulous in his musical execution. His music encompassed some of the fascinating influences of the post-Wagnerian era. Ravel’s musical contributions were of utmost importance to this exciting and new era in French cultural history. He made notable contributions to musical literature for the piano, the French art song, opera, chamber music, orchestral literature, and the ballet. Sur l’herbe (1907) poem by Paul Verlaine (1833-1896) This mélodie is Ravel’s only setting of Verlaine. It has often been suggested that this poem was probably inspired by Watteau’s painting L’île enchantée. There is also a reference to a famous eighteenth-century dancer, Marie-Anne Cuppi, known as (La) Camargo, who was immortalized on canvas by the painter Nicolas Lancret. The scene is an outside gathering, elegant and artificial. A number of people are there, chief among them, a licentious abbé, slightly tipsy from a bit too much Cyprian wine. He exchanges a few disconnected gallantries with the ladies–innocent conversations on the surface, but sensuous in undertone. The conversation is disconnected; we do not know exactly who is speaking. Ravel shapes very flexible vocal phrases, in keeping with the abbé’s intoxicated state, underscored with graceful piano figures that evoke an eighteenth-century dance. In a letter to Jean-Aubrey, Ravel commented on “Sur l’herbe”: “In this piece, as in the Histoires naturelles, the impression must be given that one is almost not singing. A bit of preciosity is found there which is indicated moreover by the text and the music.” 1 Noël des jouets (1905) poem by the composer This is the only solo song for which Ravel wrote the text. It describes a Christmas manger scene, replete with the Virgin and Christ-child, animals, and angels. It embodies Ravel’s delight with tiny mechanical toys and figures, and his fascination with the unspoiled world of child-like experience. His genius for text painting is displayed in the delightful mélodie. The mechanical toys come to life in the piano figures. Ravel’s charming text creates the images around and over the crèche, with not a word wasted. Ravel commented that the music is “clear and plain, like the mechanical toys of the poem.” 2 This little song foreshadows other Ravel settings of make-believe, beginning with the song cycle Histoires naturelles and culminating with his opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges. The music of menacing dog Belzébuth foreshadows the music of the Beast in the Mother Goose Suite (Ma Mère lOye). Rêves (1927) poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) The poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue has been described as reflecting the union of dream and memory. This mélodie has a tender lyricism within a sparse musical texture. The text is fashioned of a series of miniature images that pass by rather quickly, unrelated, like the images found in dreams. For all their differences, they have a simplicity about them that seems timeless, existing together, as the poet says, “in a vague countryside.” When the dreamer finally awakens, the little fleeting pictures “die quietly.” The piano postlude perpetuates the dream state, creating an ethereal little microcosm that continues to draw the dreamer to it. Ronsard à son âme (1924) poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) In his Abrégé de l’art poétique français (1565) Pierre de Ronsard advocated the union of poetry and music, and Renaissance composers frequently set his poems. 3 In this strikingly simple mélodie, Ronsard speaks to his soul, calling it by a series of diminutives: little soul, dainty little one, sweet little one. Ravel uses a series of parallel fifths in the piano figures to invoke a Renaissance mood. This is Ronsard’s last poem, and Ravel’s last adaptation of Renaissance poetry. Ravel’s setting recalls the elegance of his early mélodie, “D’Anne qui me jecta de la neige,” to a poem of Clément Marot. Manteau de fleurs (1903) poem by Paul Barthélemy Jeulin (1863-1936) The poem notes everything in the garden that is pink–all the flowers that will become a beautiful cloak to complement the beauty of the lady of the poem. Ravel usually had very sophisticated taste in choosing texts; this particular poem is an unusual choice. It is a simple text, somewhat banal, but Ravel’s shimmering musical texture imparts a dramatic character for each flower in the poem. The overall piano texture suggests orchestral colors. The last section of the mélodie changes course slightly, with the piano harmonies creating a slightly wistful mood. Clearly, Ravel lavished a beautiful musical setting on a rather ordinary set of words. Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932-33) [Medium/Low Voice edition only] poems by Paul Morand (1888-1976) This miniature cycle was Ravel’s last vocal work. His musical portrait of the noble Spanish knight, Don Quixote, is embodied in three mélodies, all based on characteristic Spanish or Basque dance rhythms: (1) the guajira, alternating 6/8 and 3/4 meter; (2) the zorzica, a Basque dance in quintuple meter; and (3) the jota, a lively triple-metered Spanish dance. “Chanson Romanesque” presents the chivalrous idealist Don Quixote, confidently promising to rearrange everything in nature to his lady Dulcinea’s liking in order to win her favor. Dulcinea is in reality a poor farm girl, but the Don’s illusion will not be shaken. He remains authoritative and focused in his quest for her love. “Chanson épique” is Quixote’s reverent prayer to Saint Michael and Saint George, beseeching them to bless his sword and his Lady. Ravel creates a beautifully sustained and prayerful vocal line over a simple accompaniment. “Chanson à boire” is a exuberant drinking song. Although the Don’s tippling has made him overly boisterous, he never oversteps the bounds of his noble bearing. His robust laughter is heard in the piano figures and even a hiccup intrudes between “lorsque j’ai” and “lorsque j’ai bu.” NOTES: Maurice Ravel, in a letter to Jean-Aubrey written in September, 1907. Quoted in Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Dover Publications, 1991), 165-66. Quoted in Orenstein, 161. Orenstein, 192. BACK TO TOP ALBERT ROUSSEL (1869-1937) In 1894 Albert Roussel left a highly successful career as a naval officer to pursue music. After completing his studies, he became professor of counterpoint at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Satie and Varèse were among his students. Roussel was one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. He composed almost forty mélodies as well as chamber music, ballets, and operas. His style is eclectic but highly individual. Early works show the influence of Vincent d’Indy, works dating from 1910 to 1920 exhibit influences of Debussy and Ravel, but he turned to neoclassicism in his later compositions. His love for the sea was almost a spiritual attraction and continued to influence his music throughout his career. He had a fascination for distant places; his extended tour of Southeast Asia in 1909 had a tremendous influence on his composition. “Sarabande” and “Cœur en peril” are mélodies to texts of René Chalupt, a close friend. They are found in op. 20 and 50, respectively. Roussel’s overall musical catalogue is not extensive, but its quality is of an extremely high level, and his vocal writing in particular contains some mélodies of great delicacy and style, squarely in the French tradition. For Roussel, the word held primacy in his mélodies, being both transformed by its musical setting and merging with it to create a perfect union. Commenting on the quality of Roussel’s songs, composer Charles Koechlin is quoted as saying: “The sense of austerity pervading them, stemming simply from the composer’s natural reserve, heightens their expressiveness and further embellishes them; in language and content they are absolutely personal. This collection of songs is one which will last because its essence is undying sensitivity.” 1 Sarabande (1919) from Deux mélodies, Op. 20, No. 2 poem by René Chalupt This is surely one of Roussel’s most delicate and magical creations. His writing for the piano is particularly outstanding, placing Chalupt’s poem in an overall texture of elegance and veiled sensuality. There is an Oriental delicacy in Roussel’s musical evocation of the fluttering doves, feathers drifting into a pool, and the gentle drift of chestnut blossoms onto bare flesh. Cœur en péril (1933-34) from Deux mélodies, Op. 50, No. 1 poem by René Chalupt This mélodie is much different in mood–witty and flirtatious. It is the narrative of a young man eager to convince his ladylove of his fidelity. Vocal phrases are tuneful, with a spirited piano texture of Iberian flavor. NOTES: Liner notes, Dom Angelico Surchamp, trans. Elisabeth Carroll, Roussel Mélodies, Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Mady Mesplé, Kurt Ollmann, José Van Dam; Dalton Baldwin, Patrick Gallois. EMI Digital. CDS 7492712, 1987 BACK TO TOP ERIK SATIE (1866-1925) Erik Satie wrote very few songs and most of them date from late in his life. The eccentric father figure of the French avant-garde of the twentieth century had a wildly independent spirit that found its way into his musical compositions. Throughout his life, he kept a great deal of childlike inquisitiveness and innocence. He was a curious personality of unconventional habits whose sense of the absurd and whimsy permeated both his life and his music. Quintessential Satie compositions are laconic and witty. It was Satie who named Les Nouveaux Jeunes, soon known as Les Six, and influenced the early development of the group. La Statue de bronze (1916) from Trois Mélodies poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) This is Satie’s first setting of the poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue, the “Bohemian poet of Paris.” Satie used Fargue’s witty verses again for Ludions. The scene is a garden game–the jeu de tonneau. A bronze frog, perched atop a cabinet with numbered chambers, grows impatient of being the target of the game where metal disks are tossed into her mouth. She dreams of being freed from her pedestal and being able to use her wide-open mouth to utter “LE MOT.” 1 She wants to be free to join the other frogs gathered near the rust-colored washhouse “blowing musical bubbles from the soapy moonlight.” But the game continues, the disks rattle through her mouth into numbered compartments and at night, insects sleep in her mouth. This mélodie can be linked musically to “La Grenouille américaine,” found in Ludions. Both songs share piano figures derived from the café-concert chanson. Ludions (1923) poems by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) Ludions is the last of Satie’s purely vocal works, composed two years before his death, and is perhaps his finest set of songs. It epitomizes his lifelong quest for musical simplicity and his irreverence for the intricate compositional techniques and overactive emotions of the Impressionists. Ludions is translated as “bottle imps” (a ludion is a little figure suspended in a hollow ball, which descends or rises in a vase filled with water when one presses down on the elastic membrane covering the mouth of the vase). The cycle is a kaleidoscopic set of musical miniatures, riddled with puns and illogical phrases. Fargue’s nonsensical verse complements Satie’s musical aesthetic, and the two friends’ personalities closely matched one another. All the mélodies in Ludions are short, like tiny cameos. They are colorful, saucy, fantastic, and defy translation. “Air du rat,” “La Grenouille américaine,” and “Chanson du chat” are right out of the music hall, and Satie uses with a mock-serious “tongue-in-cheek” treatment for “Spleen” and “Air du poète.” Je te veux (1902) poem by Henry Pacory (1873-?) The valse chantée, or sung waltz was a favorite of the café concerts, for which Satie composed a number of works. Café concerts were a form of Parisian popular entertainment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The all-musical programs were held outside; French popular singers presented repertoire that catered to lower and middle-class audiences who came to talk, eat, drink, and observe the long informal programs, for which there was no admission charge. “Je te veux” was composed for Paulette Darty, dubbed “the Queen of the slow waltz.” It was one of her signature musical presentations for the caf’conc (café concerts), and one that Darty remained associated with throughout her career. A statuesque blonde with an ample figure, Darty was a commanding performer who kept the most boisterous of the Saturday night audiences enthralled. Lyricist Henry Pacory’s rather explicit poem was watered down at Satie’s request before the song was published. La Diva de l’Empire (1904) poem by Charles Bessat, named Numa Blès (1871-1917) The “Diva de l’Empire,” 2 one of Satie’s café-concert songs, was another work written for and performed by Paulette Darty. It was composed for a Bonnaud-Blès music-hall revue called Dévidons la Bobine (Let’s Unwind the Bobbin) that toured several seaside resort towns. The British “diva” is a femme fatale performer who enchants all who see her. The song is a syncopated cakewalk describing her seductive beauty as she struts her stuff “showing the wiggling of her legs and some pretty frilly underwear.” Interspersed at points along the way with English words: Greenaway, baby, little girl, etc. The piano provides a jaunty ragtime rhythm throughout that melds perfectly with the suggestive text. NOTES: ”Le mot” has a double meaning. It was the title of a broadsheet published by Jean Cocteau between 1914-15 and is short for “le mot de Cambronne,” a polite way of saying “merde.” Cambronne was a famous French general who replied “Merde!” when asked to surrender. In Steven Moore Whiting, Satie the Bohemian: From Cabaret to Concert Hall. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 43. Empire refers to the Empire Theatre of Varieties, Leicester Square, London. BACK TO TOP DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC (1872-1921) Déodat de Séverac, of aristocratic lineage, was born in the Languedoc region of southwest France in Saint-Félix-Caraman (now Saint-Félix Lauragais), near Toulouse. After studies in Paris with Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum, he returned home and remained there. He was a contemporary of Fauré, Debussy and Ravel, but was considered a petit maître in their company, possibly because of his return to Languedoc at the completion of his musical studies. Séverac composed piano and orchestral music, operas and songs. The culture of his native Languedoc figured prominently in his music, which is highly descriptive. He often wrote parts for regional folk music in his scores. Many considered him provincial and unsophisticated, but his music displays his skill in integrating folk elements–and often, regional folk instruments–of his native Languedoc into his works. He often referred to himself as “the peasant musician.” Influences of Debussy, Mussorgsky, and Bizet may be found in his mélodies. Although his music is rather conservative in style, Séverac fused folk elements with the musical styles of the day in a unique and individual manner. Ma poupée chérie (1914) poem by the composer Composed in 1914 (and published in 1916) for his daughter Magali and dedicated to her, this little cradlesong is probably de Séverac’s best loved and most performed mélodie. Séverac’s fresh musical setting contains just the right combination of simplicity and delightful childlike honesty. Despite the subject matter, the composer’s heartfelt poem avoids an overly cloying atmosphere. BACK TO TOP OTHER SOURCES CONSULTED: Jane Bathori, On the Interpretation of the Mélodies of Claude Debussy, transl. and with an introduction by Linda Laurent (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1998). Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, transl. by Winifred Radford (New York: W.W. Norton, 1977). Pierre Bernac, The Interpretation of French Song, transl. by Winifred Radford(New York: W.W. Norton, 1978). Elaine Brody, Paris: The Musical Kaleidoscope 1870-1925 (New York: George Braziller, 1987). Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001) Alan M. Gillmor, Erik Satie (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1992). James Harding, The Ox on the Roof: Scenes from musical life in Paris in the Twenties (New York: Da Capo Press, 1986). Peter Hill, ed., The Messiaen Companion (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995). Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 2009) Graham Johnson and Richard Stokes, A French Song Companion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Carol Kimball, Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2005). Carol Kimball and Richard Walters, eds., The French Song Anthology (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2001). Timothy LeVan, Masters of the French Art Song (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1991). Barbara Meister, Nineteenth-Century French Song (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1980). Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993). Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975). Nancy Perloff, Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment in the Circle of Erik Satie(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991) Caroline Potter, Henri Dutilleux: His Life and Works (Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co., 1997). Francis Poulenc, Moi et mes amis: Confidences recueilles par Stéphane Audel (Paris: La Palatine, 1963). Francis Poulenc, Diary of my Songs [Journal de mes mélodies] transl. by Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, Ltd., 1985) Marie-Claire Rohinsky, ed., The Singer’s Debussy (New York: Pelion Press, 1987) Roger Shattuck, The Banquet Years (New York: Vintage Books, 1968). 20TH CENTURY FRENCH ART SONGS Mélodies française du XXe siècle Edited by Carol Kimball Published by Éditions Durand DF 16250/HL 50565798 High Voice edition DF 16251/HL 50565799 Medium/Low Voice edition Distributed in Europe and Asia by Hal Leonard MGB Distributed in North and South America by Hal Leonard Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Hal Leonard Australia Download & Print Introductory Notes Complete Online Introductory Notes, Unabridged copyright © 2015 Editions Durand An abridged version of editor Carol Kimball’s “Introduction” appears in the High Voice and Medium/Low Voice publications. Her complete length “Introduction” appears below. See the publications for the poetry texts in French and translations in English. GEORGES AURIC CLAUDE DEBUSSY HENRI DUTILLEUX GABRIEL FAURÉ REYNALDO HAHN ARTHUR HONEGGER JACQUES LEGUERNEY OLIVIER MESSIAEN DARIUS MILHAUD FRANCIS POULENC MAURICE RAVEL ALBERT ROUSSEL ERIK SATIE DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC GEORGES AURIC (1899-1983) George Auric was something of a child prodigy, performing a piano recital at the Musicale Indépendante at the age of fourteen. The following year, the Société Nationale de Musique performed several songs he had composed. He studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire with Georges Caussade, and later with Vincent d’Indy and Albert Roussel at the Schola Cantorum de Paris. Before he was twenty, Auric had orchestrated and written incidental music for several stage productions and ballets. He composed a significant amount of avant-garde music during the years between 1910-20. Around 1914, he widened his acquaintances to include members of Les Six, a group of composers informally associated with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau, and became a part of their group. Auric and Francis Poulenc became fast friends and remained so for life. Music criticism was an important part of Auric’s career; his writing focused on promoting the ideals of Les Six and Cocteau. He was also especially known for his film scores, which are consistently imaginative. He forged a major career in the English movies of the 1940s and ’50s. Among his most well-known scores is the music for the film Moulin Rouge. Other popular film titles with scores by Auric include The Lavender Hill Mob, Roman Holiday, Beauty and the Beast, and Bonjour Tristesse. In 1962 he became the director of the Opéra National de Paris and later, chairman of SACEM, the French Performing Rights Society. Auric continued to write classical chamber music until his death. Le Jeune sanguine (1940) from Trois Poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin poem by Louise de Vilmorin (1902-1969) This mélodie is the second song in Auric’s cycle titled Trois poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin. Vilmorin’s poetry reverberates with sensitivity to affairs of the heart. She was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets; he set her poetry when writing specifically for the female voice, such as in Fiançailles pour rire. A sort of veiled humor is at the heart of this text that describes a young hussy whose lover departs early with the dawn’s first light, leaving her weeping disconsolately. Auric provides a prelude and postlude for formal balance as the miserable young woman mourns her loss. He also inserts several unexpected and amusing measures of a tango as the young man arches his back and leaves the sound of her sobbing. For his three Vilmorin songs, Auric used the style of a chansonette, or more popular song. Printemps (1935) Poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Auric composed this lilting waltz song for a play by Edouard Bourdet titled La Reine Margot (1935). The celebrated musical theatre actress-singer Yvonne Printemps created the role of Queen Margot of Navarre at Théâtre de la Michodière. Auric and Francis Poulenc collaborated on the incidental music for this play; Poulenc took the second act, Auric the first. Poulenc composed the Suite française and the song “A sa guitare”; Auric’s contribution was “Printemps.” Yvonne Printemps sang both songs in the play. Both composers used texts by Pierre de Ronsard, and the musical style of each is reminiscent of the Renaissance. Ronsard’s original poem had twenty-three stanzas. Auric set only the first three. BACK TO TOP CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Claude Debussy wrote expertly for the voice and was acutely responsive to transforming poetic nuance into musical expression. Possibly no other French composer was as attuned to blending poetry and music. His literary taste was highly refined and he maintained a visible and active role in the literary and artistic circles of his time. He chose to set poetry of his contemporaries, notably Verlaine and Mallarmé. Verlaine’s verse with its inherent musical qualities, provided Debussy with poetry for numerous works. For Debussy, poetry as poetry was the paramount determinant of the musical texture. His ability to detect the essence of a poem and perfectly transform it into musical expression makes his mélodies unique in the history of French song. Le promenoir des deux amants (1904, 1910) poems by Tristan l’Hermite (c. 1601-1656) “Auprès de cette grotte sombre,” the first song, made its first appearance with the title “La Grotte,” song two of Trois chansons de France of 1904. In 1910, it was retitled and combined with two other poems by Tristan l’Hermite (“Crois mon conseil, chère Climène” and “Je tremble en voyant ton visage”) to form the miniature cycle Le Promenoir de deux amants, which has been called the finest of all Debussy’s works for voice and piano. It is also the least-often performed. Debussy chose the texts from Les Amours de Tristan, a collection by the seventeenth-century poet Tristan l’Hermite. The poems are set close to a grotto, secluded and silent. The transparent, barely stirring waters mingle with the silence of the cloistered spot, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. Debussy establishes an intimate, tender mood immediately and maintains this fragile mix of sound and color throughout the three mélodies. The interplay of resonance and texture in voice and piano results in an exquisite blend of light and shade, perfectly complementing l’Hermite’s poetic images. Subtly inflected vocal phrases are key to recreating the infinite calm and Pelléas-like atmosphere of the poetry, a perfect fusion of stillness and sensuality. Fêtes galantes II (1904) poems by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) Debussy’s fascination with the work of the French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine resulted in his setting to music no fewer than seventeen of Verlaine’s texts. He composed two sets of three songs each, both titled Fêtes galantes, the first in 1892, and the second in 1904. Fêtes galantes II, Debussy’s last setting of Verlaine, closely following the composition of his opera Pélleas et Mélisande, is representative of the composer’s mature vocal works. It is marked by sparser textures, freer tonalities and a more concentrated compositional style than the first set; but like the first set, Fêtes galantes II presents three unrelated songs. None of the Watteau-like scenes are found here; rather, these three poems are filled with mystery, and are without sentimentality. The theme of time appears in each of the poems: the first, sentimental youthful remembrances; the second, inexorable fleeting time; and finally in the last song, time never to be reclaimed. “Les Ingénus” recalls the first awakenings of sexual attraction, and deals with the breathless awe with which a group of unsophisticated young men of the mid-nineteenth century view their similarly naïve female companions. The scene unfolds in a highly chromatic texture, skillfully balanced to preserve the delicate, poignant images in Verlaine’s verse. Debussy’s free-floating harmonies are carefully contrived to complement the uncertain emotions and repressed sensations of the youths in the poem. “Le Faune” begins with a prelude; time unravels in an inflexible dance featuring a rhythmic, hypnotic figure in the piano, imaging the traditional reed pipe and “tambourin,” a small drum played with a stick. The old terra-cotta statue in Verlaine’s poem is probably the woodland god Pan, playing a monotonous rhythm that is both sensual and slightly menacing, matching the mood of the two mélancolique pélerins. Mesmerized by the repetitive rhythms of drum and reed flute, the dejected travelers are caught in the whirlpool of passing time, which spins past as they watch helplessly. “Colloque sentimental.” Colloquial (colloque) refers to ordinary speech or conversation. This disturbing poem is the touchstone of one of Debussy’s great mélodies. It is the last poem in Verlaine’s collection titled Fêtes galantes, and provides a chilling climax. It blends themes of despair, death and disillusion. In this extraordinary song, the ghosts of two lovers meet in a wintry park. As they speak of their former love, their words match the setting: glacial and detached from feeling. Throughout the song their wintry words are enhanced by Debussy’s simple and subtle vocal treatment: one voice urgent and persistent, the other stonily indifferent. Debussy’s manipulation of musical texture between voice and piano is masterful. The sparse vocal lines are almost speech-like, and the piano figures mirror the frozen landscape in which this conversation–equally cold–takes place. The song’s kinship to Debussy’s opera Pélleas et Mélisande is unmistakable. The listener becomes one with the poem’s narrator, straining to see and hear the couple’s conversation in the icy cold of the deserted, frozen park. Debussy reaches back to “En sourdine” (the first mélodie of Fêtes galantes I), takes the wistful song of the nightingale, and inserts it into this song at various points. The nightingale’s melody (“voix de nôtre dessespoir, le rossignol chantera”) provides a touching and melancholy association, linking the two sets of Fêtes galantes together symbolically and musically, foreshadowing the disenchantment of love hinted at in “En sourdine” with the lovers’ conversation in “Colloque sentimental,” and unifying the two sets by a subtle musical component. This panel of three mélodies was Debussy’s last setting of the poetry of Paul Verlaine. Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maisons (1915) poem by the composer This is Debussy’s last song, written to his own text, a Christmas carol for children made homeless by World War I. Its intensity comes from its simple sincerity. Debussy composed it on the eve of his first operation for the cancer that would end his life two years later. It was his personal protest against the invasion of northern France by the German armies. When asked for permission to orchestrate the song, Debussy refused, saying, “I want this piece to be sung with the most discreet accompaniment. Not a word of the text must be lost, inspired as it is by the rapacity of our enemies. It is the only way I have to fight the war.” Originally composed in 1915 for piano and voice, Debussy also created a version for children’s chorus, and in 1916, a version for piano and two sopranos. BACK TO TOP HENRI DUTILLEUX (1916-2013) Henri Dutilleux studied at the Paris Conservatory with Maurice Emmanuel. He received the Prix de Rome in 1938 at age twenty-two, and went on to work at the Paris Opéra and the French Radio. France’s musical institutions defined his career: in 1961, he joined the faculty at the école Normale de Musique, teaching composition. In 1970, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire. He destroyed many of his early works, considering them derivative of Ravel, the preeminent composer in France during his youth. His music that had been published avoided demolition. After World War II, Dutilleux concentrated almost exclusively on instrumental and orchestral music, much of which has been widely programmed and recorded. His songs are not well known. In the chronological catalogue of his compositions, beginning in 1929, the Quatre mélodies for mezzo soprano or baritone is only the eleventh entry. It also exists in an orchestral version. The collection is dedicated to the French baritone Charles Panzéra and his wife, pianist Magdeleine Panzéra-Baillot, prominent interpreters of French song in the interwar years. Gabriel Fauré dedicated his last cycle, L’horizon chimérique, to Panzéra. Quatre mélodies (1942) uses poems by four different poets and presents a delightful collection of moods, although it must be admitted that the level of the poetry is not uniformly high: “Féérie au clair de lune” (poem by Raymond Genty), a graceful scherzo of dancing fairies that evokes Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; “Pour une amie perdue” (Edmond Borsent); “Regards sur l’infini” (Anna de Noailles); and “Fantasio” (André Bellessort). The last mélodie is the most successful of the set and is one of two songs from the set (the other being “Pour une amie perdue”) that Dutilleux acknowledged. He wanted to exclude the first and third songs because their poetry was relatively mediocre. Fantasio (1942) from Quatre Mélodies poem by André Bellessort (1866-1942) “Fantasio” (the original title of Bellessort’s poem is “Les funérailles de Fantasio”) is a colorful poem that chronicles the funeral of the titled character, who has expired before the text begins. The poem, set in Venice during Carnival, is full of glittering and compelling imagery that changes quickly, following the pace of the Carnival. Musical textures are skillfully handled and exhibit some of Dutilleux’s developing style. “Pauvre Fantasio,” is heard several times during the text, acting as both a funereal chant that unifies the proceedings and perhaps as well, keeping the mourners’ footsteps marching together. BACK TO TOP GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924) Gabriel Fauré was one of the great composers of French song who, with Duparc and Debussy, perfected the mélodie as a true art song form. He composed about a hundred songs, all original in conception, constantly developing in style, and pointing the way to future works. His songs express a broad range of emotion and a great variety of musical textures, extending the musical parameters of the genre and inspiring new techniques of song compositions. His songs are often divided into three compositional periods for purposes of study and definition. Fauré has been characterized as a skillful watchmaker; with great precision his songs, which overflow with subtle nuances and delicate detail. His approach is in keeping with the French musical aesthetic: elegant and rational, dealing with sentiment rather than literal sensation. He was able to capture the entire poetic mood of each poem he set and to create an aura around it with his musical setting. Dans la fôret de septembre, Op. 85, No. 1 (1902) poem by Catulle Mendès (1841-1909) This touching poem symbolizes the onset of old age. Mendès was among the founders of a literary magazine, La Revue fantaisiste, which published many poems of the Parnassian poets. Fauré’s musical style perfectly suited this style of poetry: elegance of style, richness of rhyme, regularity and symmetry of rhythm. The Parnassians avoided the excessively romantic and aimed for “art-for-art’s sake.” Fauré was nearly sixty years old when he composed this mélodie, and his reaction to this poem is beautifully poignant. The words describe the poet’s reflective walk through a quiet, somber forest, capturing the chill of mortality and the overall mood of the turning point of life. The ancient forest, sensing a kindred spirit, provides the walker with a sign of friendship and understanding. Fauré set this contemplative poem in a rich harmonic musical texture with a vocal line that borders on quasi-recitative-like shapes. The solemn thoughts of old age call forth a melancholy, but it is a subtle melancholy. It is almost hymn-like in the fusion of words, emotions, and musical texture. This mélodie may be considered as marking the threshold to the final period of Fauré’s compositions. Accompagnement, Op. 85, No. 3 (1902) poem by Albert Victor Samain (1858-1900) This mélodie is a beautiful barcarolle–a nighttime scene, silvery and hazy, alluring but unreal. The image of the poet rowing on the lake is reflected in the musical texture. Fauré had a lifelong fascination with water imagery in music; this poem offers a little reel of unfolding pictures of a moonlight journey a dark lake. The words “dans le rêve” tell us that this is all a dream. This is a rarely sung Fauré mélodie that yields great rewards for the performer. Chanson, Op. 94 (1906) poem by Henri di Régnier (1864-1936) This poem has a gentle charm and a calm simplicity. It is the last of Fauré’s madrigals that include delicate love songs such as “Lydia,” and “Clair de lune.” It has a wonderful fluidity that is a perfect foil for the poetic images The text is a simple set of variations on one theme: nothing on earth has any meaning unless the beloved somehow touches it. Fauré’s reaction to the words called forth a musical setting of delicate transparency and limited range. It is not well known; like “Le Don silencieux,” “Chanson” was published as a single song and therefore not widely disseminated. It is an example of exquisitely planned musical economy, and definitely belongs in Fauré’s third period of musical compositions. Le Don silencieux, Op. 92 (1906) poem by Marie Closset (1875-1952), under the pseudonym Jean Dominique Here is another little known Fauré song, a rarity because it was published separately and was never included in any of the Fauré recueils. The poem has a gentle melancholy–the plea of a timid lover, a mixture of hope and imagined disappointment. The words are tender and flowing, but the overall mood is one of unrelieved sadness. This song marks the beginning of Fauré’s third compositional period, which includes the cycles La Chanson d’Eve, Le Jardin clos, Mirages, and L’Horizon chimérique. Writing of this mélodie in a letter to his wife, Fauré said, It does not in the least resemble any of my previous works, nor anything that I am aware of; I am very pleased about this...It translates the words gradually as they unfold themselves; it begins, opens out, and finishes, nothing more, nevertheless it is unified. 1 NOTES: Quoted in Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Guildhall School of Music and Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2009), 291. Quotation from Jean-Michel Nectoux, Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life, trans. Roger Nichols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 304. This is a translation of Fauré’s letter to his wife of 17 August 1906. BACK TO TOP REYNALDO HAHN (1875-1947) Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan by birth, came to Paris with his family at age four and made a brilliant career. In addition to his career as a composer and singer, he was director of the Paris Opéra, music critic for the newspaper Figaro, and conductor of the Salzburg Festival. He was enough of a scholar to edit some of the works of Rameau. He maintained close friendships throughout his life with actress Sarah Bernhardt and writer Marcel Proust. During the Belle époque, French mélodie was at the height of its development. Hahn was a habitué of the most fashionable salons, where he was in demand as a performer. On these occasions, he usually sang and played his own accompaniment, often with a cigarette dangling from his lips. The art of singing was one of his major passions, and he wrote three books on singing (Du chant, Thèmes varies, and L’oreille au guet), as well as a memoir of Sarah Bernhardt. Hahn’s songs are models of French restraint–devoid of overt display, with beautiful melodies in a modest vocal range. They reflect the style of his teacher, Jules Massenet. Hahn composed approximately ninety-five works for solo voice: eighty-four mélodies, five English songs to texts of Robert Louis Stevenson, and six Italian songs in the Venetian dialect. After 1912, Hahn composed in larger forms: opera, operetta, and film music. Perhaps his most famous work is his operetta Ciboulette (1923), which is still performed. À Chloris (1916) poem by Théophile de Viau (1590-1626) “À Chloris” is No. 14 in Deuxième volume de vingt mélodies, the last major publication of Hahn’s songs during his lifetime. In many of his later songs, he turned to a deliberately archaic style. “À Chloris” features an elegant vocal line above a piano texture that features Baroque musical characteristics; it is its own piece, with ornamented melody and chaconne-like bass. Vocal line and piano piece are woven into a musical tapestry that is both declarative and intimate. Poet Théophile de Viau was considered one of the most influential libertin poets during Louis XIII’s reign. The libertins’ verses had a unique charm that is instantly appealing, but somewhat artificial. Despite this, de Viau’s love poetry is not bland, but full of suggestive passion and elegant wit. BACK TO TOP ARTHUR HONEGGER (1892-1955) Arthur Honegger composed over forty mélodies for voice and piano. Taken as a whole, they are diverse and imaginative. For his texts, he favored contemporary poets such as Jean Cocteau, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Claudel, and Paul Fort. He also chose to set unrelated poems by a single poet, such as his Poesies (Cocteau) and Alcools (Apollinaire). Poetry with strong imagery appealed to the dramatist in his personality. For Honegger, as for most successful mélodie composers, the word provides the starting place. He is quoted as saying: For me, the music a song is always dependent upon the poetic model. It must join so closely with the poetry, that they become inseparable and one can picture the poem in wholly musical terms. This is not to say that the music becomes subservient. It must be so crafted that it can stand on its own merits, playable without the text, logical and complete. 1 Born of Swiss parents in Le Havre, France, Arthur Honegger initially studied for two years at the Zurich Conservatory, but enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire from 1911 to 1918, studying with Charles-Marie Widor and Vincent d’Indy. Some of his more familiar large vocal works include the dramatic psalm Le roi David (King David), composed in 1921 and still in the choral repertoire; and his dramatic oratorio of 1935, Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the stake), with text by Paul Claudel, considered to be one of his finest works. Between the world wars, he composed nine ballets and three vocal stage works, among works in other genres. His total compositional catalog is an impressive list of music: orchestral works, chamber music, concertos, ballets, operas, operettas, and oratorios. Widely known as a train enthusiast, he was passionately interested in locomotives, to which he attributed almost human characteristics. His “mouvement symphonique,” Pacific 231, gained him early acclaim in 1923. Honegger’s musical style is a fascinating mixture of impressionistic effects peppered with penetrating dissonances. He had a fondness for mixing tonalities and using modality. His compositions for the voice display an eclectic focus of coloristic harmonies and architectural clarity. He was a member of Les Six, but unlike most of that group, did not share their overwhelming reaction against German romanticism. Honegger’s musical style is fuller and more serious than his colleagues. He and Darius Milhaud were close friends. Honegger’s generous body of song has proved of enduring interest to contemporary performers. His was a distinctive voice in the vocal music of the twentieth-century French mélodie. Trois Psaumes (1940-41) from the Huguenot Psalter Psaumes XXXIV and CXL translated by Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605) Psaume CXXXVIII translated by Clément Marot (1496-1544) The spirit of Bach shines in the first psaume, “Psalm 34,” in which a chant-like vocal line alternates with a gently moving episodic keyboard part. This call and response continues until the last three vocal phrases, when the vocal line merges with the instrumental texture in a psalm of praise. The second song is “Psalm 140,” “ô Dieu donne-moi la déliverance de cet homme pernicieux” (O God, deliver me from this evil man). Honegger’s biographer, Harry Halbreich, suggests that the “evil man” who was oppressing Europe in those last days of 1940 might be the reason for Honegger’s text choice. This piece was composed before the first and third songs. Its emotional mood peaks with the chorale tune “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” 2 The last song in the set, “Psalm 138,” has the Latin title “Confiteor tibi, Domine” (I thank thee, O Lord) and is a paraphrase by Clément Marot, one of the greatest of the French Renaissance poets. It contains a familiar chorale tune, which is used in canon between voice and piano. NOTES: Arthur Canter and Rachel Joselson, Liner notes, The Songs of Arthur Honegger and Jacques Leguerney. Rachel Joselson, Réne Lecuona , piano. Albany Records, TROY691, 2004. Harry Halbreich, trans. Roger Nichols, Arthur Honegger (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1999), 165. BACK TO TOP JACQUES LEGUERNEY (1906-1997) Most of Jacques Leguerney’s sixty-eight mélodies were composed and published from 1940 to 1964. Many were commissioned and premiered by French baritone Gérard Souzay, his sister, soprano Geneviève Touraine, and pianist Jacqueline Bonneau. Early songs are comparable in mood and style with Ravel or Roussel (who encouraged Leguerney’s composition); later songs have been compared to those of his contemporary, Poulenc. Leguerney writes virtuoso piano parts–often dramatic, and with such an individual sense of harmonic style and color that Pierre Bernac reportedly described them as “mélodies de pianist.” 1 When asked about Leguerney’s songs, Gérard Souzay wrote, “How does one describe this music which is, at the same time, classic and modern? It is pure, but colorfully nuanced; it speaks to the heart as well as the mind–at times calm at times witty–wise, yet sensual...” 2 Many of Leguerney’s songs deal with themes of love and nature, expressing a huge range of emotions from deeply felt meditation to wild, ribald humor. Leguerney stopped composing in 1964, and his songs became neglected. The quality of Leguerney’s text setting, lyrical beauty, and harmonic innovations all call for his songs to be better known and more widely performed. Jacques Leguerney was drawn to the work of Renaissance poets, notably Ronsard. There are eight collections titled Poèmes de la Pléaide, representing settings of sixteenth and seventeenth-century French poetry and totaling thirty-two songs. Additionally, there are cycles and other collections [for a complete listing of Leguerney’s songs, see Dibbern, Kimball, and Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney]. 3 They may be thought of as the last in the great mainstream of twentieth-century French song. La Caverne d’écho (1954) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 7 poem by Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant (1594-1661) Dedication: Josiane and Jean Cier. First performance: Bernard Kruysen, baritone; Jean-Charles Richard, pianist. 29 May 1965, Radio France Culture. Marc-Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant, wrote poetry of great descriptive power, and his use of language set him apart from the other seventeenth-century poets. He was also an adept musician and skillful lute player, writing verses that often describe musical sounds linked to visual images. The poem takes place in a dark cave, home of the nymph, Echo; it is a charmed place, absolutely still and peaceful. The poet’s lute resounds inside the cavern as he tries to soothe the inconsolable Echo, who mourns for her lover Narcissus. Leguerney creates the grotto’s mysterious resonance with bitonality. Piano figures illustrate the strumming of the lute. The text contains many sounds with the consonant “r.” The rolling quality of this speech sonority re-creates the cavern’s resonance. The closing measures of the mélodie produce a striking effect as the singer’s voice echoes eerily in the cavern, blending with the piano’s resonance and creating a remarkably realistic echo. À son page (1944) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 2 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Gérard Souzay. First performance: Gérard Souzay, baritone; Jacqueline Robin (Bonneau). 3 May 1945, Salle Gaveau, Paris. This is a lusty scene with four characters: a nobleman tipsy from drink, his page, and two women, Jeanne and Barbe. Carpe diem is the theme here. The singer philosophizes on this idea while enjoying his wine and the tender companionship of the two beautiful women. Leguerney evokes the crackling staccato of a stylized harpsichord with rhythmic accents in the piano. The text is brilliantly set with jagged vocal lines and driving rhythms that illustrate the singer’s intoxication. It ends with Leguerney’s repetition of the last poetic line and the addition of nonsense syllables which fit beautifully into the imagery and mood of Ronsard’s colorful characters. Je me lamente (1943) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 1 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Geneviève Touraine. First performance: Paul Derenne, tenor; Jeanne Blancard, pianist. 29 March 1944, Salle de l’Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris. This is one of Leguerney’s most beautiful songs, setting Pierre de Ronsard’s text from his collection of love poems for Marie Dupin, a country girl from a small village in southern France. She was half his age and probably represented the youth he constantly pursued. It has been suggested that the Marie in question was probably Marie de Clèves, passionately adored by Henri III. 4 Leguerney called this mélodie a constant crescendo from beginning to end. 5 Ronsard’s anguish is captured with a texture of stark chords, crowned by a regal and sustained vocal line. As the song progresses, the poet’s anguish is embodied in a more expansive texture, bidding Marie a happy resting place near God or in the Elysian fields. NOTES: Liner notes by Mary Dibbern. Mélodies sur poèmes de la Renaissance (Jacques Leguerney).Harmonia Mundi France. LP recording HMC 1171. Letter to the author. Quoted in Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun. Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001), 3. Ibid., 289-295. Ibid., 69. See note 20. Ibid., 70. BACK TO TOP OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908-1992) Olivier Messiaen was born in 1908 in Avignon, France, into a literary family. He grew up around words and absorbed their shapes, colors and sounds naturally. His father, Pierre Messiaen, was a well-known translator of Shakespeare, and his mother, Cécile Sauvage, was a poet. As a youngster, before beginning to compose music, he had an especially perceptive ear attuned to the unique prosody of the French language. Early in his compositional career, he published a book titled Technique de mon langage musical (1944). About his musical setting of words, Jane Manning observes: ...the syllables themselves create a glittering mosaic of sonorities and subtle resonances, in addition to their actual meaning (many of the poems do not translate at all satisfactorily). The composer’s awareness of the minutiae of verbal enunciations and articulations is miraculous. Each vocal sound can be precisely placed as intended, all dynamics are scrupulously plotted, and the performer’s involvement and intimate connection to the music is enhanced by the sensual nature of words projection... 1 He often used stained glass to explain his music. When viewed from a distance, the myriad details blend into a single entity, whose purpose is to dazzle the listener. Understanding is not necessary, feeling is the prime requisite. The music of Olivier Messiaen is a skillfully designed and unique language, with meaning and form kept separate. Its meaning is unchangeable, harkening back to Gregorian chant, culminating in instruments that are able to prolong sound (organ, strings, or the ondes Martenot). Messiaen’s musical language is defined by its rhythms and tone colors. His uncanny instinct for associating sound with color produced works unique in their concept of the combination of sounds. He said that when he heard or read music, his mind’s eye saw colors that move with the music; he sensed these colors, and at times he precisely indicated their arrangements in his scores. His fascination with birdsong was lifelong; he referred to himself as an ornithologist and tracked birds and their songs all over the world. He considered their resonances as songs and not merely sounds. He notated these on manuscript paper and they found their way into his music. Trois mélodies (1930) poems by Olivier Messiaen, Cécile Sauvage (1883-1927) This little cycle of songs is Messiaen’s first recognized work for voice and piano. The songs are modest in length and not typical of Messiaen’s later style, but show influences of late Fauré and Duparc in the overall musical texture. There is only one song in his vocal compositions in which Messiaen set the poetry of another poet. It is found in this cycle, which uses the text of his mother, the poet Cécile Sauvage, who died three years before the composition of this work. The three movements form a warm and delicate little triptych. Two of Messiaen’s own poems stand on either side of the poem by Cécile Sauvage, throwing that charming little poem into high relief. “Pourquoi?” introduces a litany of the pleasures of nature: birdsong, the unfolding seasons, and water images. The poet becomes emotional, asking why all these bring him no joy. “La Sourire,” the shortest song of the set, is a beautiful microcosm of intimate and spiritual understanding between two people. It is a delicate example of musical economy and word setting in a quasi-recitative style. The last song, “La fiancée perdue,” offers fleeting hints of Messiaen’s cycle to come, Poèmes pour Mi–most specifically, the final song. Here, the poet prays for divine blessing on the soul of the “fiancée” in the title. The fervent incantation illuminates and affirms man’s connection to a higher authority. Examining the poetic content of the three texts, we are struck by the images that underlie the words: the emotional outburst “pourquoi,” (why?), perhaps questioning the death of Cécile, followed by Cécile’s tender affirmation of love, and finally, the prayer asking for Divine grace and the blessing of the soul of the departed. NOTES: Jane Manning, “The Songs and Song Cycles,” in The Messiaen Companion, ed. Peter Hill (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995), 107. BACK TO TOP DARIUS MILHAUD (1892-1974) Darius Milhaud was probably the most prolific composer of the group known as Les Six (Francis Poulenc, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, Georges Auric, and Milhaud). The group was unified by friendship rather than a single musical style. Championed by influential writer Jean Cocteau and composer Erik Satie, Les Six often presented their works at the same concerts and met with great regularity–often at Milhaud’s house–to make music and exchange ideas. Louis Durey observed that it was the wide diversity in their personalities and musical styles that gave the group its rich depth and permitted its development. Embodied in the credo of their musical thought was relative sparseness of texture and clarity. Turn-of-the-century France offered popular entertainments that drew the French to an environment of merry-go-rounds, shooting galleries, outdoor concerts, circuses, and a jumble of excitement. Milhaud was fascinated by Parisian street life, and could hear the sounds of the Montmartre fair from his apartment. Often on their group outings, Les Six went together to the Cirque de Médrano to see the Fratellinis, a famous family of clowns of that day. Milhaud observed that their acts were worthy of the Commedia dell’arte. 1 Trois Poèmes de Jean Cocteau, Op. 59 (1920) poems by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) Trois poèmes de Jean Cocteau is like lyric fragments. The small-range vocal lines have a sparse lyricism–one of emotional mood rather than overt melody. The little mélodies are skillful studies in brevity. These match Cocteau’s rather enigmatic poems that exemplify the style termed dépouillé (stripped to the essentials), his aesthetic creed. Milhaud dedicated the songs to Satie. The three miniatures are a colorful kaleidoscope of the circus and the outdoor fairs that entranced the French during this period. “Fumée” describes the equestrienne of the Cirque Médrano atop a horse, jumping through hoops, captured in Toulouse-Lautrec’s familiar painting titled “L’écuyère au Cirque Fernando (1888); “Fête de Bordeaux” is a description of the merry-go-round at the Bordeaux fair; and “Fête de Montmartre” evokes the nighttime boats and sailors, possibly having to do with a game involving camouflaged ships found at the Montmartre fair. Milhaud infuses stylistic and melodic elements of folk songs and children’s tunes into the tiny pieces, tying the innate excitement of these popular destinations to simple, childlike reactions. NOTES: Laurence Davies, The Gallic Muse (New York: A.S. Barnes and Co., 1967), 164. BACK TO TOP FRANCIS POULENC (1899-1963) Francis Poulenc’s 150 mélodies form the largest body of songs to be added to French vocal literature in the twentieth century. Poulenc’s flair for the dramatic, combined with his superb skill in mixing poetry and music, produced songs that singers find immensely gratifying, not only for their musical value, but for their heightened sense of drama. Poulenc’s mélodies reflect concern and feeling for declamation, inflection, breathing, and above all, show extraordinary warmth of feeling for the human voice. He was fond of saying, “J’aime la voix humaine!” The sophistication of Poulenc’s songs spring from their poetic inspirations. Poulenc was quite knowledgeable about poetry, and chose his texts carefully. His gift of divining the inner life of the texts he set produced songs that do more than merely illustrate the poems. His gift for melody is at the very heart of all his songs and seems to assert itself naturally in shaping the color, weight, and meaning of the texts he set. Ce doux petit visage (1938) poem by Paul éluard (1895-1952) Paul Eluard was one of Poulenc’s three main poets. This is a beautiful introduction to Eluard’s poetry, lyrical and passionately intense. The simplicity of Poulenc’s setting allows the poem to shine. It is one of Poulenc’s tiny gems, and he admitted his partiality to the short song. Eluard’s skill at evoking nostalgia and melancholy are seen here, linked to lost youth. The mélodie is dedicated to the memory of Raymonde Linossier, Poulenc’s most intimate childhood friend, who influenced his literary taste and musical tendencies. He said: “I have a great liking for this short song. Raymonde Linossier was my best advisor for the music of my youth. How many times, during the years since her death, I would have liked to have had her opinion on this or the other of my works.” 1 La Grenouillère (1938) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) “La Grenouillère” is an outstanding example of Poulenc’s romantic lyricism. This is a text by Guillaume Apollinaire describing the Ile de Croissy, an island in the Seine on the outskirts of Paris, frequented by artists and their models, and celebrated in paintings by Monet, Manet, and Renoir. “The Froggery” was a restaurant on the island. The overall images of happy days that cannot be relived can be seen in Pierre Auguste Renoir’s paintings Les Déjeuner des canotiers (The Boatman’s Luncheon), or La Grenouillère. In this lament for boating parties on the Seine, vocal phrases are sustained and languid, floating over a slowly rocking piano accompaniment. The lazy piano figures mirror the empty tethered boats rocking on the water, bumping against each other, and give expression to the sweet melancholy of the poet’s words. Montparnasse (1945) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Apollinaire’s poem is dated 1912. Poulenc writes in his journal of songs that it took him four years to complete “Montparnasse,” almost phrase by phrase, and that he had no regrets about the length of time it took because “it is one of my best songs.” 2 It is a sentimental and heartfelt tribute to Paris. Both Apollinaire and Poulenc loved the city and it played a continuing role in their work. “Montparnasse” is about the idyllic artistic existence lived at the edge of Paris. Poulenc wrote in his diary: “Let us imagine this Montparnasse all at once discovered by Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, Apollinaire.” 3 The mélodie has a carefree nonchalance about it; it is not sad, but thoughtful– a beautiful blend of poetic and musical lyricism. Poulenc’s vocal and harmonic textures are full of surprising harmonic details that bind this song–which he composed in fragments–together into a touching and expressive picture of Paris in the early years of the twentieth century. Bleuet (1939) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Guillaume Apollinaire was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets. This is a wartime poem that Apollinaire penned in 1917 in Paris in convalescence after a head injury; both Apollinaire and Poulenc served in World War II. There are several word plays at work here. “Bleuet” was the nickname for French soldiers in World War I, because their uniforms were blue, like the color of a little cornflower, which is a “bleuet.” Also, “Un bleu” was the term used for a raw recruit. “Bleuet” is one of Poulenc’s most moving songs– agonizing in its emotional content yet noble in its message. It is a quiet and private moment in which a twenty-year-old boy who does not yet know all that life can be, is characterized–and addressed–by the poet in a sweetly serious speech. Poulenc wrote that for him, the key to the poem were the words, “It is five o’clock and you would know how to die.” 4 This song is simple, intimate, and poignant. Les Chemins de l’amour (1940) poem by Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) Poulenc composed this valse chantée as incidental music for Léocadia, a play by Jean Anouilh. Within the play, the song was described as a pseudo Viennese waltz, and functioned as a leitmotiv in the plot. Sung by Yvonne Printemps, one of France’s most celebrated musical theatre stars, “Les Chemins de l’amour” became a popular success. It embodies the relaxed elegance of a self-styled Viennese waltz style, encased in one of Poulenc’s haunting melodies. Banalités (1940) poems by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Banalités is not a cycle, but a group of five songs. The poems have no connection with each other; however, their order provides a well-constructed recital group. They may be performed separately. The work is one of Poulenc’s most popular vocal works, and deservedly so. Poulenc chose contrasting poems, placing them so that the collection begins briskly and ends with lyrical gravity. “Chanson d’Orkenise” is Poulenc’s title for the poem contained in the strange mixture of prose and poetry that Apollinaire called Onirocritique. Orkenise is a road in Autun leading to the Roman gate of the same name. The musical setting has the feeling of a popular folk song. The narrator sings of a tramp leaving the city and a carter who is entering it - one leaving his heart there, one bringing his heart to be married. There is a word in the poem with a double meaning: “grise” can be translated as “gray” or “tipsy.” The merry quality of the song opens the set with gaiety, but both Apollinaire and Poulenc offer a little food for thought. “Hôtel” is a poem that immediately represented for Poulenc a hotel room in Montparnassse, where the idle poet wants only to bask in the sun’s warmth and smoke. Pierre Bernac referred to it as “the laziest song ever written.” 5 The piano figures are fashioned of Poulenc’s luxuriant chromatic harmonies, stacked as if to cushion the lethargy of the singer. “Fagnes de Wallonie” is set in the gloomy, desolate uplands of the Ardennes with a terrain of vast heaths, twisted trees, and peat bogs, swept by winds of considerable force. Its gloomy setting complements the melancholy mood of the poet. Poulenc’s spiky musical setting is a whirlwind that sweeps from beginning to end in a turbulent texture that demands precise articulation from singer and pianist. Sandwiched between Songs 3 and 5 is a tiny bonbon, “Voyage à Paris.” It resembles a little commercial jingle about Paris–“which one day love must have created”–an invitation to the pleasures of that beautiful city, away from “the dreary countryside.” Poulenc sprinkles his quicksilver setting–a valse-musette–with indications of “amiable” and “avec charme.” The composer referred to it as having “deliciously stupid lines...Anything that concerns Paris I approach with tears in my eyes and my head full of music.” 6 The cycle concludes with “Sanglots”, one of Apollinaire’s finest poems about the universality of lost love, a theme that Poulenc matches with exquisite modulations in a setting that embodies the essence of the words. The vocal lines are eloquently lyrical. The poem is difficult to understand because of the juxtaposition of the main narrative and the interior “asides,” that in effect form a poem within a poem. 7 The song has an elegant serenity that culminates in a stunning climactic point at the words: “Est mort d’amour ou c’est tout comme/ Est mort d’amour et le voici.” The ending lines of the song sustain the profoundly calm mood, bringing Banalités to its close. La Courte Paille (1960) poems by Maurice Carême (1899-1978) The last song cycle Poulenc composed was La Courte paille, on seven poems of Belgian poet Maurice Carême. Poulenc composed the songs for soprano Denise Duval, creator of leading roles in his three operas, hoping that she would sing them to her young son. Poulenc considered the mélodies very poetic and whimsical; unfortunately, Duval disliked the music and never did sing the cycle. Poulenc asked Carême to provide an overall title for the work and requested permission to change the titles of several selected poems: the original title of “Quelle aventure!” is “Une puce et l’éléphant”; “Le Reine de cœur” is “Vitres de lune”; “Le carafon” is “La carafe et le carafon.” For the cycle’s title, Carême chose La Courte Paille (The Short Straw), referring to drawing lots by the method of a short straw. Poulenc was delighted, saying the title symbolized his little musical game exactly. He also wrote in his diary, “They must be sung tenderly; that is the surest way to touch the heart of a child.” 8 The cycle is full of child-like innocence, whimsy and imagination, with a few shadowy undertones. The first song, “Le Sommeil,” is a beautiful lullaby to a restless child who cannot go to sleep, tossing and turning in his small bed. He seems ill, crying and perspiring, but hopefully will finally surrender to slumber. In “Quelle aventure!” the child describes an absurd happening: he saw a flea driving a carriage with a small elephant in it. The story grows more bizarre but the rhythmic pace never wavers, careening to the end of the song when the child wonders how on earth he’ll ever be able to persuade “Mama” that it really happened. The verses are witty, yet the shrieks of “Mon Dieu!” are laced with a feeling of childish terror. “La Reine du cœur” is a beautiful, languid melody that paints a picture of the mysterious Queen of Hearts, beckoning to visitors from her frosty castle, where she reigns over a court of lovers, including the young dead. In “Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu...,” the child is chided “on all sides” about studying. The title of the song presents the French vowels, and the text contains words that make their plural with an “x” (“pou, chou, genou, hibou”). The formidable cat of the poem’s opening lines is none other than that tricky feline Puss-in-Boots! The entire song is a little tongue-twister, an exercise in diction and accuracy. “Les anges musiciens” are none other than the school children staying home on Thursday, the half-day school holiday in France in Poulenc’s time, practicing Mozart on their harps, just like good little angel musicians should do. “Le carafon” is a crazy little story of a carafe that longs for a baby carafe (carafon) just like the giraffe at the zoo, who has a girafon. This is a ridiculous rhyming game like those that children love to play. The text is full of whimsical characters: the carafe, a giraffe, a sorcerer astride a phonograph, Merlin, and finally, a carafon. “Lune d’Avril” is another lullaby, very slow and otherworldly, which serves as an epilogue. Bound together in a musical texture that features a syncopated pedal point, it is filled with enchanted images the child wishes to dream about: a land of joy, light, and flowers where all guns are silent. The ending leaves the listener suspended in a mood of unfinished magic. La Courte Paille is the last vocal music Poulenc composed. NOTES: Quoted in Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1977), 125. Francis Poulenc, Journal de mes mélodies, trans. Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, 1985), 75. Ibid., 75. Ibid., 57. Bernac, 72. Poulenc, 67. The English translation of “Sanglots” has parentheses that delineate the “asides” so that both “poems” may be seen. These may be found in Pierre Bernac’s books Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, page 75, or The Interpretation of French Song, pages 284-85 Poulenc, 109. BACK TO TOP MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) The songs of Maurice Ravel represent a transition between the mature mélodies of Debussy and the vocal literature that followed, notably the songs of Les Six. Debussy dominated the French musical scene from the turn of the century until his death in 1918. It was Ravel who was regarded as the leading musical spokesman for France following World War I. He was a skillful craftsman and his songs have a sense of evenness of rhythmic structure and flow that call for scrupulous execution. The fusion of music and text into a logical whole was of utmost importance to him. He composed elegant and subtle mélodies, using classical phrase structure. His melodic phrases often tend toward modality. His songs range from those with a folk-like style to more to those that are more speech-like, and those that encompass a melodic romanticism. He was precise in his thought and his scoring, and scrupulous in his musical execution. His music encompassed some of the fascinating influences of the post-Wagnerian era. Ravel’s musical contributions were of utmost importance to this exciting and new era in French cultural history. He made notable contributions to musical literature for the piano, the French art song, opera, chamber music, orchestral literature, and the ballet. Sur l’herbe (1907) poem by Paul Verlaine (1833-1896) This mélodie is Ravel’s only setting of Verlaine. It has often been suggested that this poem was probably inspired by Watteau’s painting L’île enchantée. There is also a reference to a famous eighteenth-century dancer, Marie-Anne Cuppi, known as (La) Camargo, who was immortalized on canvas by the painter Nicolas Lancret. The scene is an outside gathering, elegant and artificial. A number of people are there, chief among them, a licentious abbé, slightly tipsy from a bit too much Cyprian wine. He exchanges a few disconnected gallantries with the ladies–innocent conversations on the surface, but sensuous in undertone. The conversation is disconnected; we do not know exactly who is speaking. Ravel shapes very flexible vocal phrases, in keeping with the abbé’s intoxicated state, underscored with graceful piano figures that evoke an eighteenth-century dance. In a letter to Jean-Aubrey, Ravel commented on “Sur l’herbe”: “In this piece, as in the Histoires naturelles, the impression must be given that one is almost not singing. A bit of preciosity is found there which is indicated moreover by the text and the music.” 1 Noël des jouets (1905) poem by the composer This is the only solo song for which Ravel wrote the text. It describes a Christmas manger scene, replete with the Virgin and Christ-child, animals, and angels. It embodies Ravel’s delight with tiny mechanical toys and figures, and his fascination with the unspoiled world of child-like experience. His genius for text painting is displayed in the delightful mélodie. The mechanical toys come to life in the piano figures. Ravel’s charming text creates the images around and over the crèche, with not a word wasted. Ravel commented that the music is “clear and plain, like the mechanical toys of the poem.” 2 This little song foreshadows other Ravel settings of make-believe, beginning with the song cycle Histoires naturelles and culminating with his opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges. The music of menacing dog Belzébuth foreshadows the music of the Beast in the Mother Goose Suite (Ma Mère lOye). Rêves (1927) poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) The poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue has been described as reflecting the union of dream and memory. This mélodie has a tender lyricism within a sparse musical texture. The text is fashioned of a series of miniature images that pass by rather quickly, unrelated, like the images found in dreams. For all their differences, they have a simplicity about them that seems timeless, existing together, as the poet says, “in a vague countryside.” When the dreamer finally awakens, the little fleeting pictures “die quietly.” The piano postlude perpetuates the dream state, creating an ethereal little microcosm that continues to draw the dreamer to it. Ronsard à son âme (1924) poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) In his Abrégé de l’art poétique français (1565) Pierre de Ronsard advocated the union of poetry and music, and Renaissance composers frequently set his poems. 3 In this strikingly simple mélodie, Ronsard speaks to his soul, calling it by a series of diminutives: little soul, dainty little one, sweet little one. Ravel uses a series of parallel fifths in the piano figures to invoke a Renaissance mood. This is Ronsard’s last poem, and Ravel’s last adaptation of Renaissance poetry. Ravel’s setting recalls the elegance of his early mélodie, “D’Anne qui me jecta de la neige,” to a poem of Clément Marot. Manteau de fleurs (1903) poem by Paul Barthélemy Jeulin (1863-1936) The poem notes everything in the garden that is pink–all the flowers that will become a beautiful cloak to complement the beauty of the lady of the poem. Ravel usually had very sophisticated taste in choosing texts; this particular poem is an unusual choice. It is a simple text, somewhat banal, but Ravel’s shimmering musical texture imparts a dramatic character for each flower in the poem. The overall piano texture suggests orchestral colors. The last section of the mélodie changes course slightly, with the piano harmonies creating a slightly wistful mood. Clearly, Ravel lavished a beautiful musical setting on a rather ordinary set of words. Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932-33) [Medium/Low Voice edition only] poems by Paul Morand (1888-1976) This miniature cycle was Ravel’s last vocal work. His musical portrait of the noble Spanish knight, Don Quixote, is embodied in three mélodies, all based on characteristic Spanish or Basque dance rhythms: (1) the guajira, alternating 6/8 and 3/4 meter; (2) the zorzica, a Basque dance in quintuple meter; and (3) the jota, a lively triple-metered Spanish dance. “Chanson Romanesque” presents the chivalrous idealist Don Quixote, confidently promising to rearrange everything in nature to his lady Dulcinea’s liking in order to win her favor. Dulcinea is in reality a poor farm girl, but the Don’s illusion will not be shaken. He remains authoritative and focused in his quest for her love. “Chanson épique” is Quixote’s reverent prayer to Saint Michael and Saint George, beseeching them to bless his sword and his Lady. Ravel creates a beautifully sustained and prayerful vocal line over a simple accompaniment. “Chanson à boire” is a exuberant drinking song. Although the Don’s tippling has made him overly boisterous, he never oversteps the bounds of his noble bearing. His robust laughter is heard in the piano figures and even a hiccup intrudes between “lorsque j’ai” and “lorsque j’ai bu.” NOTES: Maurice Ravel, in a letter to Jean-Aubrey written in September, 1907. Quoted in Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Dover Publications, 1991), 165-66. Quoted in Orenstein, 161. Orenstein, 192. BACK TO TOP ALBERT ROUSSEL (1869-1937) In 1894 Albert Roussel left a highly successful career as a naval officer to pursue music. After completing his studies, he became professor of counterpoint at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Satie and Varèse were among his students. Roussel was one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. He composed almost forty mélodies as well as chamber music, ballets, and operas. His style is eclectic but highly individual. Early works show the influence of Vincent d’Indy, works dating from 1910 to 1920 exhibit influences of Debussy and Ravel, but he turned to neoclassicism in his later compositions. His love for the sea was almost a spiritual attraction and continued to influence his music throughout his career. He had a fascination for distant places; his extended tour of Southeast Asia in 1909 had a tremendous influence on his composition. “Sarabande” and “Cœur en peril” are mélodies to texts of René Chalupt, a close friend. They are found in op. 20 and 50, respectively. Roussel’s overall musical catalogue is not extensive, but its quality is of an extremely high level, and his vocal writing in particular contains some mélodies of great delicacy and style, squarely in the French tradition. For Roussel, the word held primacy in his mélodies, being both transformed by its musical setting and merging with it to create a perfect union. Commenting on the quality of Roussel’s songs, composer Charles Koechlin is quoted as saying: “The sense of austerity pervading them, stemming simply from the composer’s natural reserve, heightens their expressiveness and further embellishes them; in language and content they are absolutely personal. This collection of songs is one which will last because its essence is undying sensitivity.” 1 Sarabande (1919) from Deux mélodies, Op. 20, No. 2 poem by René Chalupt This is surely one of Roussel’s most delicate and magical creations. His writing for the piano is particularly outstanding, placing Chalupt’s poem in an overall texture of elegance and veiled sensuality. There is an Oriental delicacy in Roussel’s musical evocation of the fluttering doves, feathers drifting into a pool, and the gentle drift of chestnut blossoms onto bare flesh. Cœur en péril (1933-34) from Deux mélodies, Op. 50, No. 1 poem by René Chalupt This mélodie is much different in mood–witty and flirtatious. It is the narrative of a young man eager to convince his ladylove of his fidelity. Vocal phrases are tuneful, with a spirited piano texture of Iberian flavor. NOTES: Liner notes, Dom Angelico Surchamp, trans. Elisabeth Carroll, Roussel Mélodies, Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Mady Mesplé, Kurt Ollmann, José Van Dam; Dalton Baldwin, Patrick Gallois. EMI Digital. CDS 7492712, 1987 BACK TO TOP ERIK SATIE (1866-1925) Erik Satie wrote very few songs and most of them date from late in his life. The eccentric father figure of the French avant-garde of the twentieth century had a wildly independent spirit that found its way into his musical compositions. Throughout his life, he kept a great deal of childlike inquisitiveness and innocence. He was a curious personality of unconventional habits whose sense of the absurd and whimsy permeated both his life and his music. Quintessential Satie compositions are laconic and witty. It was Satie who named Les Nouveaux Jeunes, soon known as Les Six, and influenced the early development of the group. La Statue de bronze (1916) from Trois Mélodies poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) This is Satie’s first setting of the poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue, the “Bohemian poet of Paris.” Satie used Fargue’s witty verses again for Ludions. The scene is a garden game–the jeu de tonneau. A bronze frog, perched atop a cabinet with numbered chambers, grows impatient of being the target of the game where metal disks are tossed into her mouth. She dreams of being freed from her pedestal and being able to use her wide-open mouth to utter “LE MOT.” 1 She wants to be free to join the other frogs gathered near the rust-colored washhouse “blowing musical bubbles from the soapy moonlight.” But the game continues, the disks rattle through her mouth into numbered compartments and at night, insects sleep in her mouth. This mélodie can be linked musically to “La Grenouille américaine,” found in Ludions. Both songs share piano figures derived from the café-concert chanson. Ludions (1923) poems by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) Ludions is the last of Satie’s purely vocal works, composed two years before his death, and is perhaps his finest set of songs. It epitomizes his lifelong quest for musical simplicity and his irreverence for the intricate compositional techniques and overactive emotions of the Impressionists. Ludions is translated as “bottle imps” (a ludion is a little figure suspended in a hollow ball, which descends or rises in a vase filled with water when one presses down on the elastic membrane covering the mouth of the vase). The cycle is a kaleidoscopic set of musical miniatures, riddled with puns and illogical phrases. Fargue’s nonsensical verse complements Satie’s musical aesthetic, and the two friends’ personalities closely matched one another. All the mélodies in Ludions are short, like tiny cameos. They are colorful, saucy, fantastic, and defy translation. “Air du rat,” “La Grenouille américaine,” and “Chanson du chat” are right out of the music hall, and Satie uses with a mock-serious “tongue-in-cheek” treatment for “Spleen” and “Air du poète.” Je te veux (1902) poem by Henry Pacory (1873-?) The valse chantée, or sung waltz was a favorite of the café concerts, for which Satie composed a number of works. Café concerts were a form of Parisian popular entertainment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The all-musical programs were held outside; French popular singers presented repertoire that catered to lower and middle-class audiences who came to talk, eat, drink, and observe the long informal programs, for which there was no admission charge. “Je te veux” was composed for Paulette Darty, dubbed “the Queen of the slow waltz.” It was one of her signature musical presentations for the caf’conc (café concerts), and one that Darty remained associated with throughout her career. A statuesque blonde with an ample figure, Darty was a commanding performer who kept the most boisterous of the Saturday night audiences enthralled. Lyricist Henry Pacory’s rather explicit poem was watered down at Satie’s request before the song was published. La Diva de l’Empire (1904) poem by Charles Bessat, named Numa Blès (1871-1917) The “Diva de l’Empire,” 2 one of Satie’s café-concert songs, was another work written for and performed by Paulette Darty. It was composed for a Bonnaud-Blès music-hall revue called Dévidons la Bobine (Let’s Unwind the Bobbin) that toured several seaside resort towns. The British “diva” is a femme fatale performer who enchants all who see her. The song is a syncopated cakewalk describing her seductive beauty as she struts her stuff “showing the wiggling of her legs and some pretty frilly underwear.” Interspersed at points along the way with English words: Greenaway, baby, little girl, etc. The piano provides a jaunty ragtime rhythm throughout that melds perfectly with the suggestive text. NOTES: ”Le mot” has a double meaning. It was the title of a broadsheet published by Jean Cocteau between 1914-15 and is short for “le mot de Cambronne,” a polite way of saying “merde.” Cambronne was a famous French general who replied “Merde!” when asked to surrender. In Steven Moore Whiting, Satie the Bohemian: From Cabaret to Concert Hall. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 43. Empire refers to the Empire Theatre of Varieties, Leicester Square, London. BACK TO TOP DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC (1872-1921) Déodat de Séverac, of aristocratic lineage, was born in the Languedoc region of southwest France in Saint-Félix-Caraman (now Saint-Félix Lauragais), near Toulouse. After studies in Paris with Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum, he returned home and remained there. He was a contemporary of Fauré, Debussy and Ravel, but was considered a petit maître in their company, possibly because of his return to Languedoc at the completion of his musical studies. Séverac composed piano and orchestral music, operas and songs. The culture of his native Languedoc figured prominently in his music, which is highly descriptive. He often wrote parts for regional folk music in his scores. Many considered him provincial and unsophisticated, but his music displays his skill in integrating folk elements–and often, regional folk instruments–of his native Languedoc into his works. He often referred to himself as “the peasant musician.” Influences of Debussy, Mussorgsky, and Bizet may be found in his mélodies. Although his music is rather conservative in style, Séverac fused folk elements with the musical styles of the day in a unique and individual manner. Ma poupée chérie (1914) poem by the composer Composed in 1914 (and published in 1916) for his daughter Magali and dedicated to her, this little cradlesong is probably de Séverac’s best loved and most performed mélodie. Séverac’s fresh musical setting contains just the right combination of simplicity and delightful childlike honesty. Despite the subject matter, the composer’s heartfelt poem avoids an overly cloying atmosphere. BACK TO TOP OTHER SOURCES CONSULTED: Jane Bathori, On the Interpretation of the Mélodies of Claude Debussy, transl. and with an introduction by Linda Laurent (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1998). Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, transl. by Winifred Radford (New York: W.W. Norton, 1977). Pierre Bernac, The Interpretation of French Song, transl. by Winifred Radford(New York: W.W. Norton, 1978). Elaine Brody, Paris: The Musical Kaleidoscope 1870-1925 (New York: George Braziller, 1987). Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001) Alan M. Gillmor, Erik Satie (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1992). James Harding, The Ox on the Roof: Scenes from musical life in Paris in the Twenties (New York: Da Capo Press, 1986). Peter Hill, ed., The Messiaen Companion (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995). Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 2009) Graham Johnson and Richard Stokes, A French Song Companion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Carol Kimball, Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2005). Carol Kimball and Richard Walters, eds., The French Song Anthology (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2001). Timothy LeVan, Masters of the French Art Song (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1991). Barbara Meister, Nineteenth-Century French Song (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1980). Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993). Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975). Nancy Perloff, Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment in the Circle of Erik Satie(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991) Caroline Potter, Henri Dutilleux: His Life and Works (Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co., 1997). Francis Poulenc, Moi et mes amis: Confidences recueilles par Stéphane Audel (Paris: La Palatine, 1963). Francis Poulenc, Diary of my Songs [Journal de mes mélodies] transl. by Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, Ltd., 1985) Marie-Claire Rohinsky, ed., The Singer’s Debussy (New York: Pelion Press, 1987) Roger Shattuck, The Banquet Years (New York: Vintage Books, 1968).

Legally Blonde Jr. - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Alice In Wonderland Jr. (Disney) Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Music & Lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe & Nell Benjamin Book by Heather Hach Based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture Overview / Synopsis One Act, Book Musical, Pop / Rock, Rated G Broadway Junior Version Harvard's beloved blonde takes the stage by glittery pink storm in this fun and upbeat musical. (60-MINUTE VERSION FOR YOUNG PERFORMERS) A fabulously fun international award-winning musical based on the adored movie, LEGALLY BLONDE JR., follows the transformation of Elle Woods as she tackles stereotypes, snobbery, and scandal in pursuit of her dreams. Adapted for younger performers and based on the popular movie, this show features an upbeat original score that's sure to leave cast members and audiences alike seeing pink! When Elle's high school boyfriend Warner dumps her and heads to Harvard, claiming she's not "serious" enough, Elle takes matters into her own hands, crafting a showy song-and-dance personal essay and charming her way into law school. Befriending classmate Emmett and spunky hairdresser Paulette along the way, Elle finds that books and looks aren't mutually exclusive - in fact, law may be her natural calling after all as she quickly begins outsmarting her peers. LEGALLY BLONDE JR. features a large, expandable cast, lead and supporting roles for male and female actors, as well as energetic production numbers. The show's sense of humor, as well as its themes of self-empowerment and open-mindedness, make LEGALLY BLONDE JR. ideal for young performers. At the Delta Nu sorority house, word is out that Elle Woods is going to dinner to get engaged to her beau Warner Huntington III ("Omigod You Guys"). Margo, Serena and Pilar lead the other Delta Nus to the mall, where Elle is having trouble choosing the right dress for the occasion. Later at dinner, just when Elle is sure Warner is going to propose, he breaks up with her, explaining that with his departure for Harvard Law School, it's time to get serious ("Serious"). Devastated, Elle locks herself in her room. Twelve days later, the Delta Nus finally get Elle to emerge ("Daughter of Delta Nu"). Elle realizes the only solution to her heartache is to get into Harvard Law and prove to Warner she's serious enough for him ("What You Want"). Sorority sister Kate helps Elle study for the LSAT, and after several attempts and a lot of hard work, Elle's application comes upon Harvard Admissions. Lowell, Winthrop and Pforzheimer, three Harvard admissions coordinators, decide to admit Elle after a very extravagant song and dance (which she submits in lieu of a personal essay) citing love as her main motivation. On the first day of class, Elle meets her fellow first-year law classmates, Aaron, Padamadan and Enid, as well as Warner, who is shocked to see her on campus. Callahan (the most feared teacher at Harvard) kicks Elle out of class for being unprepared at the suggestion of classmate Vivienne Kensington. Callahan's TA, Emmett, tries to console Elle, but her mood only worsens when Warner confesses to Elle that Vivienne is his new girlfriend. Elle finds the nearest salon and meets Paulette, who commiserates with her situation ("Ireland"). Afterward, Elle runs into Vivienne who invites her to a costume party. Elle attends, hoping to see Warner, but is dismayed to discover she is the only one who wore a costume - much to Vivienne's delight. On the way home, Elle meets Emmett, who tells Elle how hard he's worked to get where he is and encourages her to do the same ("Chip On My Shoulder"). Time is passing quickly at law school and Elle is working harder than ever, eventually winning her first court case in class and receiving a recommendation to apply for Callahan's internship. With her newfound confidence, Elle helps Paulette win her dog back from her estranged boyfriend, Dewey. Back at Harvard, Warner and Vivienne win two of Callahan's coveted internship positions, and Warner proposes to Vivienne on the spot right in front of Elle. Before her heart can break, Emmett shows her the internship list, and Elle is ecstatic to discover her name is on it as well ("So Much Better"). The interns quickly jump into the case of fitness video guru Brooke Wyndham, who is accused of killing her wealthy husband. After watching her fitness video ("Whipped into Shape"), the interns meet her at a correctional facility where she refuses to give her alibi to anyone but Elle, thanks to their Delta Nu sisterhood ("Delta Nu Nu Nu"). In confidence, Brooke shares with Elle that she was getting liposuction the day her husband was killed, so there is no way she could be guilty, but no one can know because her fitness empire would be destroyed. The other interns demand that Elle give up Brooke's alibi, but Elle refuses to go against her Delta Nu pledge. Back at the salon, Paulette has eyes for the UPS delivery man, Kyle, but isn't confident enough to go after him. Elle teaches her a guaranteed move to win any guy's affections - the Bend and Snap ("Bend and Snap"), but when Paulette tries it, she accidentally breaks Kyle's nose. Elle returns to the case, but Callahan has a different agenda and tries to kiss her, just as Vivienne returns, unnoticed. Elle rejects Callahan's advances and is fired. Defeated, she prepares to go home convinced she was only ever seen as a joke, even though Emmett asks her to stay, finally realizing that he is in love with her ("Legally Blonde"). Elle stops by the salon to say goodbye to Paulette, but Vivienne - who witnessed what happened to Elle in Callahan's office and finally understands her - convinces her to keep fighting. The entire salon rallies behind Elle as she heads back to the courtroom ("Legally Blonde - Remix") where Brooke fires Callahan and hires Elle to continue her defense. Everyone is present to witness Elle's first day in court, including Paulette and Kyle (now a couple), Margo, Serena, Pilar and the other Delta Nus. Brooke's stepdaughter Chutney takes the stand, testifying that when she got out of the shower, she witnessed Brooke standing over her father's body, covered in blood. When asked what she had been doing earlier that day, Chutney reveals she had gotten a perm, and Elle realizes a flaw in Chutney's alibi - she couldn't possibly have showered the same day as receiving a perm or her hair would be flattened. Since her perm is still intact, she has obviously lied about her alibi. Under some intense questioning from Elle, Chutney accidentally reveals that she killed her father, mistaking him for Brooke. Elle wins the case and Brooke is set free. Warner tries to propose to Elle, but she gently refuses, having gained her independence and a desire to be the best she can be ("Find My Way"). Three years later, Elle is made valedictorian of her class, and in her commencement speech she proposes to Emmett, who accepts. Everyone celebrates their legally blonde friend and heroine, Elle Woods ("Finale"). Audio Sampler - HL00125163 $10.00 ShowKit - HL00125152 $695.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Actor's Books Choreography DVD Director's Guide 30 Family Matters Booklets Media Disk 2 Performance/Accompaniment CDs Piano/Vocal Score 60-Minute JR. Request Individual Components 00125153 - Director's Guide $100.00 00125154 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00125155 - Actor's Script $10.00 00125156 - Actor's Script 10-Pak $75.00 00125157 - Rehearsal/Accompaniment CD $75.00 00125158 - Student Rehearsal CD $10.00 00125159 - Student Rehearsal CD 20-Pak $100.00 00125160 - Choreography DVD $50.00 00125161 - Media Disc $10.00 00125163 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample Omigod You Guys (Part 1) Omigod You Guys (Part 2) Serious (Part 1) Serious (Part 2) Daughter of Delta Nu What You Want (Part 1) What You Want (Part 2) What You Want (Part 3) Ireland Chip On My Shoulder (Part 1) Chip On My Shoulder (Part 2) Chip On My Shoulder (Part 3) Run Rufus Run!/Elle Reflects So Much Better Whipped Into Shape Delta Nu Nu Nu And Snap Bend And Snap Legally Blonde Legally Blonde Remix (Part 1) Legally Blonde Remix (Part 2) Legally Blonde Remix (Part 3) Scene Of The Crime (Part 2) Find My Way/Finale Cast Size Large (over 20), Flexible Cast Type Ensemble Cast - Many featured roles, Mainly Women, Showcases trained dancers, Showcases trained singers, Star Vehicle - Female, Teenage Roles Dance Requirement Heavy (Extensive Dance Sections/Solos), Standard (Musical Staging/Some Dance/Optional) AARON SCHULTZ, SUNDEEP AGRAWAL PADAMADAN and ENID HOOPES Three law students with academic credits that would intimidate anyone. BROOKE WYNDAM An exercise video mogul who is also a former sorority girl. She is energetic and charismatic, yet currently on trial for murder. Range: A3-D5 CHUTNEY WYNDHAM Brooke's unhappy stepdaughter with a really bad perm and an even worse attitude. DEWEY Paulette's brash ex-husband who lives in a trailer and holds her dog captive. ELLE WOODS The quintessential Valley Girl may appear like a typical blonde California sorority girl, but don't count her out. She is hardworking, optimistic and tenacious. Range: F#3-Eb5 EMMETT FORREST A smart and sensitive law student who takes Elle under his wing. He is charming, quirky, loveable, and friendly. Range: C3-F#4 ENSEMBLE WAITERS, DELTA NUS, FRAT BOYS, GREEK CHORUS, STUDENTS and INMATES. GAELEN, JUDGE, JET BLUE PILOT, SALESWOMAN, STORE MANAGER, PRISON GUARD, BOOKISH CLIENT and SABRINA Featured roles for young performers who may have less experience on the stage but have vibrant personalities. GRANDMASTER CHAD A fun cameo role for a young guy who is a great musician but may be less experienced onstage. Range: D3-D4 KATE A featured Delta Nu sister - the acedemic of the bunch. Range: Bb3-Db5 KIKI THE COLORIST, CASHIER and STYLIST Part of Paulette's entourage at the salon who are very adept at the "Bend and Snap." Range: C4-A4 KYLE The delivery man who Paulette has her eyes on each time his job brings him to the salon. MARGOT, SERENA, and PILAR Elle's trio of best friends and Delta Nu sisters. Range: F#3-C#5 PAULETTE A brash, caring, optimistic hair stylist who is friends with Elle and longs to find a man for herself. Range: A3-Bb4 PROFESSOR CALLAHAN The most-feared professor at Harvard Law School. Range: Bb2-F#4 VIVIENNE KENSINGTON A smart, savvy, and uptight law student and Warner's fiancee who initially dismisses Elle, but grows to be her friend. Range: A3-Eb5 WARNER HUNTINGTON III A good-looking but shallow and pompous guy who breaks Elle's heart and heads off to Harvard Law. He is caught between his former life with Elle and his newfound serious East Coast life with Vivienne. Range: D3-F4 WHITNEY Vivienne's law school friend and partner in mischief when it comes to bringing down Elle. WINTHROP, LOWELL and PFORZHEIMER Three admissions officers of Harvard Law School who eventually admit Elle into the program after some critical evaluation.

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2011 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2011 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song literature. The deadline for entry was February 1, 2011. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place CALVIN GRIFFIN School: Ohio State University Voice Teacher: Patrick Woliver Second Place JOSEPH ELETTO School: Rice University Voice Teacher: Stephen King Third Place SETH NACHIMSON School: Oberlin Conservatory of Music Voice Teacher: Lorraine Manz Honorable Mention JUSTIN JOHN MONIZ Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place (tie) SAMANTHA HANKEY Location: Natick, Massachusetts Voice Teacher: Angela Gooch First Place (tie) EMILY HELENBROOK Location: Alexander, New York Voice Teacher: Patricia Alexander Second Place (tie) JOHN BRAKATSELOS Location: Manhasset, New York Voice Teacher: Terence Goff Second Place (tie) MADELINE RAUBE Location: Glen Ellyn, Illinois Voice Teacher: Angela Presutti Korbitz Third Place CHRISTINA ARROYO Location: Vancouver, Washington Voice Teacher: Linda Appert Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) ESME HURLBURT Watch Video GRACE LEE Watch Video CAROLINE MELCHER Watch Video MICHAEL WILLIAMSE Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place MAEGAN RAO Location: Auburn, California Voice Teacher: Marina Lynch First Place MAEGAN RAO Location: Auburn, California Voice Teacher: Marina Lynch Second Place (tie) CAMERON KING Location: Longwood, Florida Voice Teacher: Novie Greene Second Place (tie) AMY XU Location: Plainsboro, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Danielle Sinclair Third Place ANNIE DRYSDALE Location: Oakville, Ontario Voice Teacher: Linda Fletcher Honorable Mention LISA LOUW Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place ATHENA ZHANG Location: Hyde Park, Massachusetts Voice Teacher: Clara Sandler First Place ATHENA ZHANG Location: Hyde Park, Massachusetts Voice Teacher: Clara Sandler Second Place (tie) KYLE BIRD Location: Holland Landing, Ontario Voice Teacher: Jeanette Martin Second Place (tie) STEVIE KEESE Location: Greenville, South Carolina Voice Teacher: Tina Thompson-Broussard Third Place (tie) GRAHAM POORE Location: Williamston, South Carolina Voice Teacher: Tina Thompson-Broussard Third Place (tie) KEERA PUETT Location: Eugene, Oregon Voice Teacher: Kathryn Leonard Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) GABI LEIBOWITZ Watch Video SHYAMA NITHIANANDA Watch Video GRACE WHALEY Watch Video Back To Top

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2013 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2013 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 1, 2014. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place LIV REDPATH School: Harvard College Voice Teacher: Ms. Penelope Bitzas Second Place (tie) MARCEL D'ENTREMONT School: Acadia University Voice Teacher: Christianne Rushton Second Place (tie) CHRISTIAN KETTER School: DePaul University Voice Teacher: Carl Lawrenz Third Place ETHAN SIMPSON School: Curtis Institute of Music Voice Teacher: David Parker Honorable Mention CLARE DEMER Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place EMILY POGORELC Location: Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin Voice Teacher: Julia Faulkner Second Place AARON BIGELEISEN Location: Pittsford, New York Voice Teacher: Robert Swensen Third Place (tie) OLIVIA COSIO Location: San Francisco, California Voice Teacher: Todd Wedge Third Place (tie) KRISTOFER HANSEN Location: Glenview, Illinois Voice Teacher: Theresa Brancaccio Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) HAYLEY BOGGS Watch Video SARAH CLEMENTINE MIRE Watch Video LINDSAY WEBBER Watch Video SAMANTHA WILLIAMS Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place NICOLE KOH Location: Daly City, California Voice Teacher: Todd Wedge Second Place (tie) CAITLIN HALE DANIELS Location: Dallas, Texas Voice Teacher: Linda DiFiore Second Place (tie) MARIE HERRINGTON Location: Durham, North Carolina Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Linnartz Third Place SARAH AALDERING Location: Los Gatos, California Voice Teacher: Kathleen Ludowise Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) ANNIE DRYSDALE Watch Video CAITLYN McCONNELL Watch Video KAYLA THURBER Watch Video EVA WEINGARTEN Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place SYDNEY CORNETT Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Voice Teacher: Deborah Linton Second Place (tie) CARLY COONEY Location: Lake Oswego, Oregon Voice Teacher: Angela Niederloh Second Place (tie) ALIYAH DOUGLAS Location: Tucson, Arizona Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Third Place (tie) JULIA PULO Location: Mississauga, Ontario Voice Teacher: Linda Fletcher Third Place (tie) ANDREW SHROLL Location: Murrieta, California Voice Teacher: Noelle Catiller Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) JAMIE BRADLEY Watch Video JOHNATHON MARTINEZ Watch Video SARAH SPARKS Watch Video JENNA VENTURI Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place KELSEY LAURITANO School: The Juilliard School Voice Teacher: Edith Wiens Second Place (tie) CHRISTIAN KETTER School: DePaul University Voice Teacher: Carl Lawrenz Second Place (tie) JACK SWANSON School: University of Oklahomay Voice Teacher: Bill Neill Third Place KELLY WRIGHT School: East Carolina University Voice Teacher: Mollye Otis Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) JAKE BRINSKELE Watch Video ARICA COLEMAN Watch Video MARCEL D'ENTREMONT Watch Video MICHAEL HEWITT Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place MELISSA GOLDMAN Location: Los Altos, California Voice Teacher: Antonina Johnston Second Place (tie) RACHEL HORNER Location: Voorhees, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Second Place (tie) ELIZA MANTZ Location: Mill Valley, California Voice Teacher: Suzanne Darley Third Place (tie) MISTY BIRTCHER Location: Houston, Texas Voice Teacher: Isabelle Ganz Third Place (tie) LAUREN MATLACK Location: Voorhees, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) AARON BIGELEISEN Watch Video ALEXANDRIA CHURCHWELL Watch Video DALIA MEDOVNIKOV Location: Woodbridge, Connecticut Watch Video CECILIA DETWILER Watch Video LINDSAY ROLLAND-MILLS Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place ASHLYN COMBS Location: Lexington, South Carolina Second Place KELLEY MAGUIRE Location: Needham, Massachusetts Voice Teacher: Kimberly Moller Third Place (tie) SAM COLWELL Location: Lincoln, Nebraska Voice Teacher: Alisa Belflower Third Place (tie) ANNIE DRYSDALE Location: Oakville, Ontario Voice Teacher: Linda Fletcher Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) KATRINA COFFMAN Watch Video ASHLEY FRITZ Watch Video CASEY LAMONT Location: Austin, TX Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place SYDNEY JONES Location: Kirkwood, Missouri Voice Teacher: Lisa Casciola Second Place ALIYAH DOUGLAS Location: Tucson, Arizona Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Third Place (tie) MARISSA PINEDA Location: St. Louis, Missouri Voice Teacher: Lisa Casciola Third Place (tie) JULIA PULO Location: Mississauga, Ontario Voice Teacher: Linda Fletcher Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) RICKIE LEE BENEDETTO Watch Video ALEXANDRA GRACE COOK Watch Video WINTER DONNELLY Location: New York, New York Watch Video CARLY COONEY Watch Video GABRIELLE HOOPES Watch Video GIANNA LEONEN Watch Video JIMIN MOON Watch Video ALEXA REEVES Watch Video Back To Top

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2017 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2017 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 1, 2017. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place ANTHONY LEÓN School: La Sierra University Location: Riverside, California Pianist: Sergio Leiva Voice Teacher: Javier Gonzalez Second Place MERISSA BEDDOWS School: Manhattan School of Music Location: New York, New York Pianist: Luyang Liu Voice Teacher: Marlena Malas Third Place ALEX WUNDER School: Belmont University Location: Nashville, Tennessee Pianist: Bernadette O'Connor Voice Teacher: Mark Whatley Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) JOEL BROWN School: Nebraska Wesleyan University Watch Video LEAH BRZYSKI School: Michigan State University Watch Video AARON CROUCH School: Curtis Institute of Music Watch Video CLARE DEMER School: University of Arizona Watch Video EVAN LAZDOWSKI School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video TAYTE MITCHELL School: Oberlin Conservatory of Music Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place ALEA VERNON School: Cheshire High School Location: Cheshire, Connecticut Voice Teacher: Lorraine Nubar Second Place (tie) SAM SIEGEL School: Independence High School (San Francisco) Location: Berkeley, California Voice Teacher: Rhoslyn Jones Second Place (tie) LIBBY SOKOLOWSKI School: Homeschooled Location: Hurley, New York Voice Teacher: Drew Minter Third Place (tie) BRITTANY BREWER School: Midway High School (Waco) Location: McGregor, Texas Voice Teacher: Julianne Best Third Place (tie) ANNE TEELING School: Dowling Catholic High School (West Des Moines) Location: Waukee, Iowa Voice Teacher: Gloria Olson Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) SARAH AALDERING Location: Los Gatos, California Watch Video ALEXANDRA KZESKI Location: Chicago, Illinois Watch Video NIKO MANCERA Location: Laguna Niguel, California Watch Video ALEX SMITH Location: Kalamazoo, MichiganI Watch Video MAYA THORSON Location: Manhattan School of Music EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place MADELIN MORALES School: West Essex High School (North Caldwell, New Jersey) Location: Fairfield, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Jeanai LaVita Second Place (tie) PABLO RUBIN-JURADO School: Juilliard Pre-College, The Juilliard School Location: New York, New York Voice Teacher: Cynthia Sanner Second Place (tie) AIDA SKARAITE School: Glenbard West High School Location: Glen Ellyn, IL Voice Teacher: Rachel Olson Third Place (tie) CAITLIN CHISHAM School: Fatima Junior High School (Westphalia, Missouri) Location: Holts Summit, Missouri Voice Teacher: Michael Straw Third Place (tie) BRADY TUTTON School: Shorewood High School Location: Shorewood, Wisconsin Voice Teacher: Roberta Ricci Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) EMMA-BROOKE ALLEY Location: Lyman, South Carolina Watch Video EMMA BROYLES Location: Anchorage, Alaska Watch Video MAY COPPLER Location: Fostoria, Ohio Watch Video RUBY PINE Location: New York, New York Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place HARRIET CHILTON School: La Colina Junior High School Location: Santa Barbara, California Voice Teacher: Dauri Kennedy Second Place (tie) NORAH BERNSTEIN School: Palmetto Scholars Academy (North Charleston) Location: Charleston, South Carolina Voice Teacher: Loretta Haskell Second Place (tie) SHAYLE HE School: The Harker School (San Jose) Location: Saratoga, California Voice Teacher: Alison Collins Third Place (tie) QUINN DUNKLE School: Excelsior Middle School) Location: Marion, Iowa Voice Teacher: Cindy Shadrick Third Place (tie) EMMA STEVENS School: Longfellow Middle School Location: Wauwatosa, Wisconsin Voice Teacher: Helen Ceci Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) BROOKLYN BURT Location: Gonzales, Louisiana Watch Video GRACE HUYNH Location: Westminster, California Watch Video SANGHOON JUNG Location: Closter, New Jersey Watch Video GREYLYN ZURITA Location: Tucson, Arizona Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place TREVOR VANDERZEE School: DePaul University Location: Chicago, Illinois Pianist: Paul Hamilton Voice Teacher: David Alt Second Place (tie) LIZA PICCOLI School: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Location: Lincoln, Nebraska Pianist: Denis Plutalov Voice Teacher: Alisa Belflower Second Place (tie) JACQUELINE SAVAGEAU School: Clark University Location: Worcester, Massachusetts Pianist: Melanie Rucinski Voice Teacher: Julie Krugman Third Place (tie) LEAH BRZUSKI School: Michigan State University Location: East Lansing, Michigan Pianist: Judy Kabodian Voice Teacher: Anne Nispel Third Place (tie) PABLO LAUCERICA School: Northwestern University Location: Evanston, Illinois Voice Teacher: Kurt Hansen Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) MATTHEW CARTER School: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Watch Video RACHEL HORNER School: Rutgers University Watch Video SARAH POLINSKI School: Mansfield University of Pennsylvania Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place ASHLYN COMBS School: Homeschooled Location: Lexington, South Carolina Pianist: Rebecca Whalen Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Briggs Second Place (tie) ZOE COLVIN School: Homeschooled Location: Smithville, Missouri Accompaniment: Recorded Voice Teacher: Stacey Stofferahn Uthe Second Place (tie) JULIA MESSENGER School: Episcopal High School (Alexandria, Virginia) Location: Moorestown, New Jersey Pianist: Ruth Locker Voice Teacher: Cara Transtrom Third Place (tie) CHELSEA CHAET School: Eastern Regional High School Location: Voorhees, New Jersey Pianist: Melissa Daniels Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels Third Place (tie) ARIA GRACE CRITCHLEY School: East High School Location: Salt Lake City, Utah Accompaniment: Recorded Voice Teacher: Rebecca Glade Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) JESSICA FURNSTAHL Location: Lake Tapps, Washington Watch Video ALANNA MCPHERSON Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba Watch Video CAITLIN NAVARRETE Location: Bronx, New York Watch Video CUBBY RUPERS Location: Hull, Georgia Watch Video KATHRYN SCHNEIDER Location: Muskego, Wisconsin Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place ALEK RAHMAN School: Desert Mountain High School Location: Scottsdale, Arizona Voice Teacher: Brenlie Nagy Second Place (tie) ALEXANDRA GOOD School: St. Ignatius College Prep Location: Chicago, Illinois Voice Teacher: Justin Nixon Second Place (tie) NICOLE SUGARMAN School: J.P. Taravella High School Location: Coral Springs, Florida Voice Teacher: Melanie Leibner Perkins Third Place (tie) AIDA SKARAITE School: Hadley Junior High Location: Glen Ellyn, Illinois Voice Teacher: Rachel Olson Third Place (tie) BRADY TUTTON School: Shorewood High School Location: Shorewood, Wisconsin Voice Teacher: Roberta Ricci Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) MELISSA ALIOTTA Location: Rockville Centre, New York Watch Video ANDREW FELDMAN Location: Woodmere, New York Watch Video ALLIE JESSEE Location: Apex, North Carolina Watch Video ALLEGRA MILES Location: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida Watch Video GRACE MOZITIS Location: Linwood, New Jersey Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place ALIYAH DOUGLAS School: Wilson K-8 School Location: Oro Valley, Arizona Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Second Place (tie) HARRIET CHILTON School: La Colina Junior High School Location: Santa Barbara, California Voice Teacher: Dauri Kennedy Second Place (tie) NATALIE WILEY School: Thompson Middle School Location: St. Charles, Illinois Voice Teacher: Dawn Harkins Third Place (tie) MADELINE HOTHAM School: Rotolo Middle School Location: Batavia, Illinois Voice Teacher: Dawn Hawkins Third Place (tie) GRAYDON YOSOWITZ School: Friends Seminary Location: New York, New York Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo / Gulnara Mitzanova Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) GUILIANA BRUZZESE Location: Vorhees, New Jersey Watch Video SAVANA DORAME Location: Oro Valley, Arizona Watch Video PEYTON ELLA Location: Irvington, New York Watch Video BENJAMIN HARMON Location: Eagle River, Alaska Watch Video SHAYLA HE Location: Saratoga, California Watch Video ISABEL HERNANDEZ Location: Winnetka, Illinois Watch Video AVA JOLIE SAVINO Location: Moorestown, New Jersey Watch Video CASSIDY SCHERZ Location: Mount Laurel, New Jersey Watch Video ANDERSON ZOLL Location: Austin, Texas Watch Video Back To Top

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2016 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2016 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 1, 2016. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place CLARA PLESTIS School: Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University Voice Teacher: Steve Rainbolt Second Place JESSICA NILES School: The Juilliard School Voice Teacher: Marlena Malas Third Place JULIA GOMEZ School: Nebraska Wesleyan University Voice Teacher: Jana Holzmeier ; Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) NATHAN KESSEL Watch Video CLAY MOTE Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place BENJAMIN WENZELBERG Location: Tenafly, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Second Place (tie) JOSHUA BERG Location: Bellevue, Washington Voice Teacher: Nancy Zylstra Second Place (tie) TARYN SURRATT Location: Houston, Texas Voice Teacher: Jason Lester Third Place (tie) MARIANNE FREEMAN Location: Lower Burrell, PA Voice Teacher: Sue Ann Phillips Third Place (tie) NIKO MANCERA Location: Laguna Niguel, California Voice Teacher: Kathleen Martin Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) SARAH AALDERING Watch Video KATE BRODERICK Watch Video SAM DHOBHANY Location: Brooklyn, NY Watch Video CLAUDIA GIUGNI Watch Video BORIS MOROCHO Watch Video MUFFIN RUSSELL Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place TYLER BOUQUE Location: Troy, Michigan Voice Teacher: Drake Dantzler Second Place MADELIN MORALES Location: Fairfield, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Jeanai La Vita Third Place ALEA VERNON Location: Cheshire, Connecticut Voice Teacher: Hilda Harris Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) JAYDA COURNOYER Watch Video CARLY GRONINGA Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place ALIYAH DOUGLAS Location: Oro Valley, Arizona Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Second Place (tie) ISABELLA BANK Location: Cary, North Carolina Voice Teacher: Gloria Petrini Second Place (tie) DALEYNA DUNLAP Location: Rolling Hills, California Voice Teacher: Susan Wong Third Place (tie) SANGHOON JUNG Location: Closter, New Jersey Voice Teacher: HyeYoung Kang Third Place (tie) KAYA KONEVITC Location: New Cumberland, Pennsylvania Voice Teacher: Marina Cherepinsky Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) LIRAZ BRAND Watch Video SHAYLA HE Watch Video AIDA SKARAITE Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place JACK KAY School: The Juilliard School Voice Teacher: Robert White Second Place TOBIAS NORDLUND School: Messiah Collegey Voice Teacher: Elaine Henderson Third Place (tie) ADAM BEI School: Mesa Community College Voice Teacher: Nicole Jensen Third Place (tie) CLAY MOTE School: Mercer University Voice Teacher: Richard Kosowski Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) RACHEL HORNER Watch Video MICHELLE LANGONE School: Vanderbilt University Watch Video ABBY KURTH Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place LEE METAXA Location: Cedar Park, Texas Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Second Place (tie) AMANDA CHILDS Location: McKinney, Texas Voice Teacher: Peg Waldschmidt Second Place (tie) AÏSSA GUINDO Location: Montreal, Quebec Voice Teacher: Martina Oslejskova Third Place (tie) ASHLEY HIESTER Location: Atco, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Third Place (tie) MILLER KRAPS Location: Louisville, Kentucky Voice Teacher: Debbie King Raque Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) SARAH AALDERING Watch Video MOLLIE DEFILIPPO Watch Video JACK JOHNSTON Watch Video HOPE KLESSIG Watch Video NIKO MANCERA Watch Video BORIS MOROCHO Watch Video KYLEE SHAFFER Watch Video CAMERON VANCE Watch Video JESSICA VANEK Watch Video MEGAN WILSON Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place CHLOE HAYES Location: Brazil, Indiana Voice Teacher: Colleen Davis Second Place (tie) DALIA MEDOVNIKOV Location: Woodbridge, Connecticut Voice Teacher: Andrea Kennedy Second Place (tie) MADELIN MORALES Location: Fairfield, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Jeanai La Vita Third Place (tie) ERIKA HILL Location: Reno, Nevada Voice Teacher: Tiffanie Story Third Place (tie) NICOLE SUGARMAN Location: Coral Springs, Florida Voice Teacher: Melanie Leibner Perkins Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) ELYSE BELL Watch Video ANNIE CAHILL Watch Video OLIVIA IACONO Watch Video CODY KONOP Watch Video LEXI MELLOTT Watch Video GRACE MOZITIS Watch Video BUDDY NOVAK Watch Video ZOË STEWART Watch Video BRADY TUTTON Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place ALEXA REEVES Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Second Place (tie) ARIN SANDIDGE Location: Bellevue, Washington Voice Teacher: Larry Bridges Second Place (tie) MALIA VARELA Location: Staten Island, New York Voice Teacher: G. Mitzanov and A. DeMayo Third Place LAUREN SUN Location: Rye Brook, New York Voice Teacher: Jeanai La Vita Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) BENJAMIN BARHAM-WIESE Watch Video ASHLEY BROOKE Watch Video ALIYAH DOUGLAS Watch Video DALEYNA DUNLAP Watch Video DAVID HACKER Watch Video MADELEINE HOTHAM Watch Video GIDEON JOHNSON Watch Video ANNELIESE KELLY Watch Video KAYA KONEVITCH Watch Video Back To Top

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2022 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2022 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 2, 2022. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. Complete List of Winners View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Kaya Giroux School: Carnegie Mellon University Location: Montreal, Quebec Pianist: Paul Michael Clark Voice Teacher: Maria Spacagna Second Place (tie) Natalie Corrigan School: University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music Location: Cincinnati, OH Pianist: Beth Parker Voice Teacher: Amy Johnson Second Place (tie) Gabrielle Turgeon School: University of Toronto Location: Toronto, ON Pianist: Kathryn Tremills Voice Teacher: Elizabeth McDonald Third Place Blake Stevenson School: University of Southern California Location: Los Angeles, CA Pianist: John-Henri Voice Teacher: Thomas Michael Allen Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Lucy Altus School: Carnegie Mellon University Watch Video Abraham Cruz School: The Boston Conservatory Watch Video Marieke de Koker School: Mannes College of Music Watch Video Jacob Soulliere School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place Elena Oliveira School: Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Location: Houston, TX Pianist: Yanira Soria Voice Teacher: Hector Vàsquez Second Place (tie) Aliyah Douglas School: Ironwood Ridge High School Location: Oro Valley, AZ Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Second Place (tie) Lia Zheng School: Canyon Crest Academy Location: San Diego, CA Voice Teacher: Zeping Cai Third Place (tie) Paige Klemenhagen School: Stillwater Area High School Location: Lake Elmo, MN Pianist: Ruth Palmer Voice Teacher: Teresa Tierney Third Place (tie) Ava Maha School: Choate Rosemary Hall Location: Sewickley, PA Pianist: Nathaniel Baker Voice Teachers: Sooyeon Kim and Lorraine Nubar Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Clara Abrahams Location: Lincoln, CA Watch Video Kimberly Adam Location: Wayne, PA Watch Video Eloise Fox Location: Landenberg, PA Watch Video Elliot Henderson Location: New York, NY Watch Video Henry Hsiao Location: Princeton, NJ Watch Video Alexandra Johnson Location: Howell, MI Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place Grace Chung Location: Hackensack, NJ Pianist: Goeun Lee Voice Teacher: Jinhwan Byun Second Place (tie) Salina Mu Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Shaunna Shandro Second Place (tie) Abigail Tidlow-Tranel Location: Yellowstone National Park, WY Pianist: Douglas Burgess Voice Teacher: Jonathan Beyer Third Place (tie) Nana Castle Location: Jacksonville, NC Pianist: Jay R. Wright Voice Teacher: Alison Lawrence Third Place (tie) Aurna Mukherjee Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Isaac Ahn Location: Rye Brook, NY Watch Video Eva Crichton Location: New York, NY Watch Video Abinaya Ganesh Location: Andover, MA Watch Video Jocelyn Knorr Location: Havertown, PA Watch Video David Trey Logeman Location: Kings Mountain, NC Watch Video Lukas Palys Location: Dallas, TX Watch Video Aanya Santosh Location: Lincolnshire, IL Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Heidi Hager Location: Herndon, VA Voice Teacher: Heather Vineyard Second Place (tie) Maya Joshi Location: Cresskill, NJ Pianist: Liliana Sotirova Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo and Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Diya Koul Location: Lexington, MA Voice Teacher: Beth Sterling Third Place (tie) Katherine Berdovskiy Location: Davis, CA Voice Teacher: Bernadette Mondok Keller Third Place (tie) Juliet Lee Location: Vienna, VA Voice Teacher: Sonia Yon Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Ava Acconzo Location: Bloomingdale, NJ Watch Video Cristina Garcia Location: North Plainfield, NJ Watch Video Ashley Hua Location: Marietta, GA Watch Video Bella Leybovich Location: Mesa, AZ Watch Video Lily Bell Morgan Location: Portsmouth, VA Watch Video Ben Rost Location: Livingston, NJ Watch Video Anna Smith Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Leila Woodward Location: Newport Beach, CA Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Abigail Storm School: Ball State University Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Beth Truitt Second Place (tie) Ashlyn Combs School: Winthrop University Location: Lexington, SC Second Place (tie) Natalie Doppelt School: University of Pennsylvania Location: Riverwoods, IL Pianist: Lisa Harer de Calvo Voice Teacher: Courtney Ames Third Place (tie) Aminata Jalloh School: Reinhardt University Location: Powder Springs, GA Pianist: Melanie Williams Voice Teacher: Reverie Berger Third Place (tie) Emily Kars School: Huntington University Location: Kincheloe, MI Pianist: Stephanie See Voice Teacher: Joni Killian Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Te’Jah Beaton School: North Charleston, SC Watch Video Beck Chandler Location: Columbia, SC Watch Video Karen Covarrubias Location: Keene, TX Watch Video Matthew Danforth Location: Demarest, NJ Watch Video Taylor McCullough Location: Kingstree, SC Watch Video Blake Stevenson Location: San Juan Capistrano, CA Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place Amelia Gibbons School: Southwest High School (Green Bay) Location: De Pere, WI Pianist: Mary Ehlinger Voice Teacher: Kaara McHugh Second Place (tie) Makenna Jacobs School: Perry High School Location: Chandler, AZ Pianist: Jenn Crandell Voice Teacher: Nichole Jensen Second Place (tie) Emma Schrier School: Cinnaminson High School Location: Cinnaminson, NJ Voice Teacher: Tamara Lynn Koveloski Third Place (tie) Emelia Aceto School: Highland High School Location: Hinckley, OH Voice Teacher: Denise Howell Third Place (tie) Ellie Brenner School: Interlochen Arts Academy (MI) Location: Durand, WI Pianist: Douglas Peck Voice Teacher: Douglas Peck Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Lindsay Alexander Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Christine Kelly Location: Geneva, IL Watch Video Ava Lane Location: Livingston, NJ Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place Kaiya Bagley School: St. Mary’s School Location: Medford, OR Pianist: Tim Spencer Voice Teacher: Andrea Hochkeppel Second Place (tie) Marina Chamedes School: Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts Location: New York City, NY Pianist: Dan Pardo Voice Teacher: Grant Anderson Second Place (tie) Abinaya Ganesh School: SMB Lessons Location: Clairton, PA Voice Teacher: Stephanie Morey-Barry Third Place (tie) Baylee Horvath School: Christ Greenfield Location: Gilbert, AZ Pianist: Hope Douglass Voice Teacher: Nichole Jensen Third Place (tie) Aurna Mukherjee School: Liberal Arts and Science Academy Location: Austin, TX Pianist: Nick Wilders Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Molly Dupre Location: Mattapoisett, MA Watch Video Ciela Elliott Location: Chappaqua, NY Watch Video Stefan Herrera Location: Houston, TX Watch Video Mina Lim Location: Orinda, CA Watch Video Bridget Lomax Location: Short Hills, NJ Watch Video Morgan Lomax Location: Short Hills, NJ Watch Video Grace Martin Location: Medford, NJ Watch Video Lydia Mushkatina Location: Bellevue, WA Watch Video Violet Paris Location: Brooklyn, NY Watch Video Rachel Rogstad Location: Loma Linda, CA Watch Video Naomi Thuren Location: Medford, OR Watch Video Ananya Yadati Location: Beachwood, OH Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Maya Joshi School: Cresskill Middle School Location: Cresskill, NJ Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon and Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Agneya Roy School: Cox Mill Elementary School Location: Concord, NC Voice Teacher: Brandi Icard Second Place (tie) Darby Schlosser School: H.C. Crittenden Middle School Location: Armonk, NY Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo and Gulnara Mitzanova Third Place (tie) Liam Garrett School: Candeo School Location: Peoria, AZ Voice Teachers: Satyam Patel and Ellen Johnson Third Place (tie) Ben Rost School: Collins Elementary School Location: Livingston, NJ Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon, Gulnara Mitzanova and Liliana Sotirova Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Alera Cetrulo Location: Santa Barbara, CA Watch Video Amelia Holly Location: Chicago, IL Watch Video Bella Leybovich Location: Mesa, AZ Watch Video Bella Nazzaro Location: Lake Worth, FL Watch Video Ciana Tzuo Location: New York, NY Watch Video Kylie Kuioka Location: Brooklyn, NY Watch Video Mollie Pedersen Location: Rochester, NH Watch Video Nicole Hodges Location: Spring, TX Watch Video Theodore Burke Location: Rancho Cucamonga, CA Watch Video Yifan Monroe Location: Gig Harbor, WA Watch Video Back To Top